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HX641 05245 
R285  .St4  The  history  of  medic 


THE 


RECAP 


HISTOEY  or  MEDICIIE 


AND 


MEDICAL   MEN 


OF 


c.iVM:DE:N  ooxjisrTY, 


NEW  JERSEY. 


BY 


JNO.   R.   STEVENSON,  A.  M.,  M.  D 


PHILADELPHIA: 

L.  J.   RICHARDS   &   CO 

1886. 


Columbia  WiniUt^itf 
CoUcse  of  ^fjpsiicianfi  anb  ^urgeong 


3aef  erence  Xibrar  j> 


THE   . 


HISTOKY  OF  MEDICINE 


AND 


MEDICAL   MEN 


OF 


C^MDEIsT    COXJISTTY, 

NEW    JERSEY. 


"At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Camden  County  Medical  Society,  held  at  Gloucester  City  on 
May  11,  1886,  on  motion  it  was  Resolved,  that  Dr.  John  R.  Stevenson,  of  Haddonfield,  be  appointed 
a  Committee  of  one  to  prepare  a  History  of  Medicine  and  Medical  Men  in  Camden  County  and 
report  the  same  at  the  next  semi-annual  meeting  in  November." 


Two  hundred  years  ago,  in  1686,  seven 
years  after  the  first  settlement  in  what  is  now 
Camden  County,  there  was  not  a  medical 
man  in  it.  The  few  settlers  were  located 
along  the  shore  of  the  Delaware  River,  and 
on  Coopers,  Newton  and  Little  Timber 
Creeks,  where  the  water  formed  the  only 
means  of  easy  communication  with  each  other. 
There  were  no  roads,  no  bridges  to  cross  the 
streams,  and  the  trail  of  the  Indian  was  the 
only  route  through  the  wilderness.  A  few 
medicinal  herbs  brought  from  home  had 
been  transplanted  into  the  gardens.  With 
the  virtues  of  these  they  were  familiar.  The 
new  country  abounded  in  native  plants, 
whose  healing  powers  had  been  for  ages 
tested  by  the  aborigines,  and  u  knowledge  of 


whose  properties  they  conveyed  to  their  white 
neighbors.  Each  autumn  the  careful  house- 
wife collected  the  horehound,  boneset,  penny- 
royal, sassafras  and  other  herbs  to  dry  for 
future  use.  This  custom  is  still  pursued  in 
the  remote  parts  of  the  county,  and  to-day  a 
visit  to  the  garrets  of  many  farm-houses  will 
reveal  the  bunches  of  dried  herbs,  a  knowl- 
edge of  whose  merits  has  been  handed  down 
from  generation  to  generation, — a  knowledge 
that  has  spread  beyond  its  neighborhood,  and 
has  been  incorporated  in  our  Pharmacopoeias 
and  Dispensatories. 

In  each  settlement  there  was  some  elderly 
matron  of  superior  skill  and  experience  in 
midwifery  who  kindly  volunteered  her  ser- 
vice in  presiding  at  the  birth  of  a  new  cx)lonist. 


in  the  bark  canoe  around  bv  the  water-way, 
or  seated  on  a  pillion  strapped  behind  the 
saddle  of  the  patient's  messenger,  riding  double 
through  the  woods,  this  obstetrician  would  be 
conveyed  from  her  own  home  to  that  of  her 
suifering  neighbor.  When  a  wound  was 
received  or  a  bone  broken,  there  was  no 
surgeon  to  dress  the  former  or  set  the  latter- 
The  wound,  bound  up  as  best  it  might  be, 
was  left  for  the  cool  water  of  the  brook  or 
spring  to  allay  the  pain  and  inflammation.  The 
broken  bone  was  placed  at  rest  in  that  posi- 
tion least  painful  to  the  patient,  to  await  the 
process  of  nature  to  make  an  indiflFerent  cure. 
As  soon  as  Philadelphia  had  grown  suflficient- 
ly  to  attract  physicians,  one  was  called  from 
there  to  attend  important  cases  of  surgical 
injuries,  and  as  highways  were  opened  and 
the  settlers  increased  in  wealth,  the  most 
thriving  of  them  would  send  for  the  city 
doctor  in  other  serious  illness.  This  practice 
has  continued  even  to  our  time. 


AN    OLD-TIME   DOCTOR. 


Such  were  the  primitive  means  and 
methods  of  medication  in  Camden  County  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  John  Estaugh,  arriving  from  England, 
married,  in  1702,  Elizabeth  Haddou,  the 
founder  of  Haddonlield.  Although  not  a 
physician,  he  "  had  some  skill  in  chemistry 
and  medicine,"  and  made  himself  useful  in 
his  neighborhood,  especially  by  his  attend- 
ance upon  the  poor.  His  first  residence 
was  upon  the  south  side  of  Coopers  Creek, 
about  four  miles  from  Camden,  but  in  1713 


he  removed  to  the   vicinity  of  Haddonfield, 
where  he  died  in  1742. 

The  permission  to  practice  medicine  was  a 
prerogative  that  belonged  to  the  crown,  under 
English  law,  and  when  a  charter  was  granted 
in  1664,  to  the  Duke  of  York  for  the  prov- 
ince of  New  Jersey,  this  prerogative,  im- 
plied or  expressed,  was  granted  to  him  and  to 
his  successors  in  the  persons  of  the  Gover- 
nors. On  March  5, 1706,  Governor  Richard 
Ingolsby,  at  Burlington,  issued  the  following 
license:  "To  Richard  Smith,  Gentleman, 
greeting ;  Being  well  informed  of  your  knowl- 
edge, skill  and  judgment  in  the  practice  of 
chirurgery  and  phesig,  T  do  hereby  license  and 
authorize  you  to  practice  the  said  sciences  of 
chirurgery  and  phesig  within  this  her  Majes- 
ty s  province  of  New  Jersey,  for  and  during 
pleasure."  On  May  24,  1706,  a  similar 
license  was  granted  to  Nathaniel  Wade. ' 
In  1772  the  New  Jersey  State  Medical 
Society  procured  the  passage  of  an  act,  limit- 
ed to  five  years,  which  provided  that  all 
applicants  to  practice  medicine  in  the  State 
shall  be  examined  by  two  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  (they  calling  to  their  assistance 
any  skilled  physician  or  surgeon),  to  whom 
they  may  issue  a  certificate.  This  law  was 
re-enacted  in  1784,  and  continued  in  force 
luitil  1816,  when  a  new  charter  granted  to 
the  State  society  transferred  the  power  of 
licensure  to  it. 

The  first  record  of  a  physician  in  the 
county  is  in  the  "Town-Book"  of  Newton 
township,  among  the  minutes  of  a  meeting 
held  on  September  29,  1731.  The  record 
says, — "and  to  pay  themselves  ye  sum  of 
four  pounds  twelve  shillings  and  two  pence 
being  due  to  them  from  the  township  upon 
acct.  of  the  poor,  and  to  pay  Doctr.  Kei'say 
for  administg  physic  to  sd.  Hart. "  Tlie 
person  referred  to  here  was  one  of  the  Drs. 
Kearsley,  of  Philadelphia.  The  elder.  Dr. 
John  Kearsley,  was  a  native  of  England,  and 

1  Hon.  John  Clement's  MSS. 


came  to  this  country  in  1711.  He  was  the 
third  physician  to  settle  and  practice  medi- 
cine in  Philadelphia,  and  was  a  prominent 
and  able  man,  both  as  a  practitioner  and  a 
citizen.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Colonial 
Assembly  and  a  popular  orator.  He  died  in 
1732.  There  was  a  younger  Dr.  Kearsley, 
a  nephew  of  the  first-named,  who  succeeded 
to  his  uncle's  practice.  He  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  proprietors  and  ci'own  against 
the  rights  of  colonists,  a  proceeding  that 
made  him  very  unpopular,  and  caused  him  to 
be  subjected  to  such  gross  indignities  as  to 
induce  chronic  insanity.  As  Newton  town- 
ship then  embraced  the  territory  bordering 
on  the  river-shore  opposite  to  Philadelphia, 
it  is  probable  that  the  practice  of  both  these 
physicians  extended  across  the  river  into  this 
county. 

The  next  notice  of  a  physician  in  Camden 
County  is  to  be  found  in  the  '^  Registry  of 
Wills,"  at  Trenton.  Under  the  date  of  1 748 
is  recorded  the  will  of  "  John  Craig,  Doctor 
of  Physick,  of  Haddonfield."  He  evidently 
had  practiced  medicine  there,  but  whence  he 
came  or  how  long  he  lived  there  cannot  now 
b€S  ascertained.  There  is  no  positive  record 
of  what  were  the  prevalent  diseases  in  early 
times  in  Camden  County.  Small-pox  pre- 
vailed occasionally,  and,  after  the  discovery 
of  inoculation  in  1721,  was  combated  by 
that  method  of  treatment.  Inflammatory 
diseases  were  common  among  a  population 
exposed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  an  unaccus- 
tomed climate.  Dysentery  occurred  in  July 
and  August.  Although  all  the  houses  in 
early  days  were  built  on  the  streams,  there  is 
circumstantial  evidence  to  show  that  malarial 
fevers  were  at  first  infrec^uent ;  nor  did  they 
become  prevalent  until  considerable  extent 
of  forest  had  been  cleared  away,  and  the 
soil  of  much  new  ground  upturned  by  the 
plough.  The  first  information  on  this  sub- 
ject from  a  professional  soun^e  is  furnished 
by  Peter  Kalm,  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  Arbo,  in   Sweden,  who,  by  order  of  the 


Swedish  government,  visited,  among  other 
places,  Gloucester  County  between  1747  and 
1749.  At  Raccoon  (Swedesboro')  he  found 
that  fever  and  ague  was  more  common  than 
other  diseases.  It  showed  the  same  charac- 
teristics as  are  found  to-day.  It  was  quotid- 
ian, tertian  and  quartan,  and  prevailed  in 
autumn  and  winter,  and  in  low  places  more 
than  in  high  ones ;  some  years  it  was  preva- 
lent throughout  the  county  (Camden  County 
was  then  included  in  it),  while  in  others 
there  would  be  but  very  few  cases.  The 
remedies  then  employed  to  overcome  it  were 
Jesuit's  (Peruvian)  bark,  bark  of  the  yellow 
poplar  and  root  of  the  dog-wood.  Pleurisy 
was  also  very  common,  and  was  fatal  with 
old  people.  Under  this  name  were  classed 
many  cases  of  pneumonia,  a  disease  not  then 
well  understood. 

In  1771  Kesiah  Tonkins,  widow  of  Joseph, 
who  died  in  1765,  lived  on  a  farm  between 
Camden  and  Gloucester  City,  known  as  the 
"  Mickle  estate."  Between  that  date  and 
1776  she  married  Dr.  Benjamin  Vanleer, 
who  lived  with  her  on  this  place.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Joseph  Ellis,  of  Newton 
township.  It  is  supposed  that  Dr.  Vanleer 
practiced  in  the  surrounding  country,  as  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  peo- 
ple, being  one  of  a  "  Committee  of  Corre- 
spondence "  for  Gloucester  County  in  the  year 
1775,  in  relation  to  the  troubles  between 
the  colonies  and  the  mother  government. 
He  was  a  man  of  fashion,  dressed  in  the 
Continental  style,  with  knee-breeches,  and 
was  proud  of  his  "  handsome  leg."  He  did 
not  remain  long  in  New  Jersey.  A  Dr. 
Benjamin  Vanleer  residing,  in  1783,  on 
AVater  Street,  between  Race  and  Vine,  Phil- 
adelphia, is  supposed  to  be  the  same  person. 

Although  this  history  is  confined  to  that 
portion  of  Gloucester  which  is  now  Camden 
C'ounty,  yet  Dr.  Thomas  Hendry,  of  Wood- 
bury, ought  to  be  classed  among  its  physi- 
cians, because  his  field  of  practice  included 
this  section,  and  for  the  reason  that  his  de- 


scendauts  became  practitioners  in  it.  He 
was  born  in  1747,  in  Burlington  County,  of 
English  parentage,  his  mother's  name  being 
Bowman,  from  whom  her  son  received  his 
surname.  He  served  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  being  commissioned  superintendent  of 
hospital  April  3,  1777;  surgeon  Third  Bat- 
talion, Gloucester.  "  Testimonials  from  Gen- 
eral Dickinson  and  General  Heard,  certifying 
that  Dr.  Hendry  had  served  as  a  surgeon  to 
a  brigade  of  militia,  that  he  had  acted  as  a 
director  and  superintendent  of  a  hospital,  and 
recommending  that  he  should  be  allowed  a 
compensation  adequate  to  such  extraordinary 
services,  was  read  and  referred  to  the  hon'- 
ble  Congress."  He  took  an  active  part  in 
political  affairs,  and  was  once  clerk  of  the 
county.     He  died  September  12,  1822. 

The  next  physician  in  Camden  County 
was  Dr.  Benjamin  H.  Tallman,  who  prac- 
ticed in  Haddonfield.  He  probably  located 
there  about  1786,  the  year  in  which  he  was 
licensed  to  practice  in  New  Jersey.  From 
the  year  1788  to  1793  he  was  the  township 
physician,  as  it  appears  that  in  each  of  those 
years  he  was  paid  by  it  for  his  services  in 
attending  the  poor.  He  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Friendship  Fire  Company  of 
Haddonfield,  September  6,  1792.  On 
October  4,  1791,  he  read  a  paper  before  the 
College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia,  on 
the  sudden  effects  of  an  effusion  of  cold 
water  in  a  case  of  tetanus.  He  died  about 
1796. 

Cotemporary  with  the  above-named  phy- 
sician was  Dr.  Evan  Clement.  He  was  the 
son  of  Samuel  Clement,  who  married  Beulah 
Evans  in  1758.  They  had  two  children, 
Samuel  and  Evan.^  The  latter  was  born  in 
Haddonfield,  but  the  exact  date  is  not  known, 
neither  is  there  any  record  of  when  or  where 
he  studied  medicine.  He  married,  April  8, 
1795,  Anna,  daughter  of  James  and  Eliza- 
beth Wills,  and   lived   in  the  brick   house  at 

1  Hon.  John  Clement' s  M^. 


the  corner  of  Main  and  Ellis  Streets,  re- 
cently purchased  and  taken  down  by  Alfred 
W.  Clement.  Dr.  Clement  was  in  practice 
there  in  1794,  and  died  in  1798.  He  was 
the  first  native  of  the  county  to  adopt  the 
profession  of  medicine  and  practice  it  in  his 
native  place. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  circumstance  that  for  a 
hundred  years  after  the  settlement  of  the 
county  no  one  born  in  it  had  studied  medi- 
cine. The  poorer  classes  were  unable  to 
procure  the  means  for  acquiring  the  requisite 
education,  while  the  wealthier  ones  altogether 
neglected  it.  It  is  true  that  prior  to  the  found- 
ing of  the  University  of  Pennsyl  van  ia,  i  n  1 7  6  5, 
the  only  means  of  obtaining  a  knowledge  of 
medicine  was  either  to  pursue  a  course  ol 
study  under  some  competent  physician,  where 
the  student  was  apt  to  be  considered  half  a 
servant,  or  else  by  attendance  at  a  medical 
school  in  England.  The  prospects  of  pro- 
fessional or  pecuniary  success  in  the  county 
were  not  flattering.  But  in  addition  to  this, 
there  was  a  sentiment  in  this  community 
unfriendly  to  the  medical  profession  as  a 
calling.  In  sickness  the  ministrations  of 
friends  and  relatives,  with  their  teas  and 
potions,  and  the  quack  remedies  of  popular 
charlatans,  who  flourished  then  as  well  as 
now,  were  deemed  sufficient.  If,  after  this 
medication,  the  patient  died,  it  was  attributed 
to  a  "  wise  dispensation  of  Providence."  The 
midwives  were  considered  to  be  adequate  to 
manage  obstetrical  cases.  There  still  lingered 
among  the  people  the  tradition  of  their 
English  ancestors,  that  the  red  and  white 
striped  pole  was  the  sign  of  the  combined 
office  of  barber  and  surgeon.  These  preju- 
dices found  expression  in  two  diametrically 
opposite  opinions.  The  stout,  robust  farmer 
and  the  active  and  alert  merchant  and  me- 
chanic looked  with  contempt  upon  a  youth 
who  had  aspirations  for  the  life  of  a  physi- 
cian as  one  who  was  too  lazy  to  work.  The 
women,  whose  remembrances  of  the  midnight 
ride  of  the  doctor  through   rains  and  snow 


and  chilliDg  winds,  thought  the  liardships 
and  exposure  too  great  for  their  brothers  and 
sons.  These  prejudices  passed  away  but 
slowly. 

Dr.  John  Blackwood,  who  began  his  pro- 
fessional career  in  Haddonfield,  became  the 
successor  of  Dr.  Evan  Clement,  not  only  by 
succeeding  to  his  practice,  but  by  marrying 
his  widow  in  1799.  He  was  the  sou  of 
Joseph  and  Rebecca  Blackwood,  and  was 
born  at  Blackwoodtown,  July  28, 1772.  His 
wife  was  a  member  of  Friends'  Meeting,  but 
was  disowned  for  marrying  out  of  it.  Dr. 
Blackwood  remained  but  a  short  time  in 
Haddonfield.  He  removed  to  Mount  Holly, 
where  he  became  prominent  in  public  affairs, 
serving  at  one  time  as  postmaster  and  also  as 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and 
Orphans'  Court  of  Burlington  County.^  He 
died  in  Mount  Holly  March  16,  1840. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Haddonfield  may  be  considered  as  having 
been  the  medical  centre  of  the  territory  of 
Camden  County.  It  was  not  only  the  oldest 
town  in  it,  but  it  was  the  third  oldest  in  the 
State.  All  the  physicians  who  had  practiced 
within  the  limits  of  the  county  had  either 
lived  in  Haddonfield  or  Newton  township, 
of  which  it  was  the  seat  of  authority.  For 
nearly  half  a  century  later  it  still  retained 
its  pre-eminence,  until  the  growth  of  Cam- 
den, and  its  becoming  the  seat  of  justice  for 
the  county,  transferred  the  supremacy  to  the 
latter. 

In  more  recent  times  Haddonfield  has  had 
the  doubtful  honor  of  being  the  seat  of  one 
of  the  notorious  John  Buchanan's  (of  Phila- 
delphia) bogus  medical  colleges.  Between 
1870  and  1880  the  doctor  owned  a  farm  on 
the  Clement's  Bridge  road,  about  four  miles 
from  the  place,  upon  which  he  spent  a  por- 
tion of  his  time.  During  this  period  diplo- 
mas of  the  mythical  "  University  of  Medi- 
cine and  Surgery    of  Haddonfield,  N.  J.," 

IS.  Wickes'  History  of  Medicine  in  New  Jersey. 


were  offered  for  sale  by  his  agents  in  Eu- 
rope. 

The  period  now  being  considered  was  a 
transition  one  for  the  nation,  which  was  then 
being  developed  from  the  former  colonies, 
through  a  confederation  of  independent 
States,  into  a  great  empire.  The  science  and 
practice  of  medicine  here  participated  in  this 
change.  At  this  time  there  appeared  in 
Camden  County  a  physician,  who  was  des- 
tined to  be  its  Hippocrates  for  forty  years, 
and  whose  memory,  though  dead  for  half  a 
century,  is  still  preserved  green  in  the  farm- 
houses and  hamlets  of  this  county.  This 
was  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry,  son  of  Dr.  Thos. 
Hendry,  of  Woodbury. 

Dr.  Bowman  Hendry  was  born  October  1, 
1773.  He  was  educated  at  the  Woodbury 
Academy,  pursuing  his  studies  under  a  Mr. 
Hunter,  a  classical  scholar  and  a  man  of 
high  literary  attainments.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  commenced  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, under  the  preceptorship  of  his  father, 
and  then  attended  lectures  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  residing,  as  a  pupil,  in  the 
house  of  Dr,  Duffield.  When  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  still  a  student,  the  Whiskey 
Insurrection  broke  out  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
troops  being  called  out  for  its  suppression, 
young  Hendry  joined  the  ranks  as  a  private 
soldier,  and  marched  with  them  to  Lancas- 
ter. The  influence  of  his  father,  with  Pj'o- 
fessor  James,  the  surgeon  of  the  troops,  se- 
cured his  release  from  the  ranks,  a  prema- 
ture examination  at  the  University,  which  he 
successfully  passed,  and  his  appointment  as 
assistant  surgeon  of  the  troops.  This  was  a 
bloodless  war,  and  soon  ended.  Dr.  Hendry 
now  began  to  look  around  for  a  field  for 
practice,  finally  selecting  Haddonfield.  He 
began  his  active  life  as  a  physician  in  1794, 
and  upon  the  death  of  Doctors  Tall  man  and 
Clement,  and  the  removal  of  Dr.  Blackwood 
to  Mount  Holly,  he  became  the  only  doctor 
in  the  place.  His  practice  now  increased 
very  rapidly,  and  stretched  over  a  large  ex- 


6 


tent  of  territory,  extending  from  the  Dela- 
ware River  to  the  sea-shore,  a  distance  of 
sixty  miles.  He  was  a  man  of  indefatigable 
industry  and  indomitable  perseverance  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  calling.  Kind-hearted  and  gen- 
erous, he  possessed  that  suaviter  in  re  which 
won  the  affection  of  his  patrons.  Many  are 
the  anecdotes  that  are  recorded  of  him. 

For  fifteen  years  he  made  his  visits  on 
horseback,  having  no  carriage.  At  length 
he  procured  at  a  vendue  an  old  sulky,  which 
was  only  an  ordinary  chair  placed  upon 
wooden  springs,  without  a  top  to  protect  him 
from  the  sun  or  rain.  The  price  paid  for  the 
vehicle  and  harness  was  thirty  dollars.  An 
old  "  Friend  "  witnessing  this  extravagance, 
remarked,  "  Doctor,  I  fear  thee  is  too  fast  in 
making  this  purchase.  Thee  will  not  be 
able  to  stand  it,  and  make  thy  income  meet 
thy  expenses."  This  gives  us  an  idea  of  the 
life  of  a  physician  in  those  days,  and  of  the 
value  of  his  services  in  the  public  estima- 
tion. In  his  journeys  through  the  "  Pines  " 
on  the  Atlantic  slope  he  would  sometimes 
become  lost  at  night,  and  be  compelled  to 
sleep  in  the  woods,  tying  his  horse  to  a  tree. 
He  was  always  prompt  to  answer  every  call, 
no  matter  whether  the  patient  was  rich  or 
poor,  and  being  a  furious  driver,  he  had  been 
known,  in  cases  of  emergency,  to  break  down 
a  good  horse  in  his  hurry  to  quickly  reach 
the  bedside,  and  that,  too,  in  a  case  where  he 
knew  that  he  would  not  receive  any  pay  for 
his  services.  It  has  been  estimated  that,  in 
the  course  of  forty  years,  he  wore  out  over 
two  hundred  horses.  He  risked  his  life  and 
gave  his  services  in  all  cases.  A  family  of 
negroes,  living  seven  miles  from  Haddon- 
tield,  were  attended  by  him  for  typhus  fever, 
and,  although  warned  that  they  were  vaga- 
bonds, thieves  and  utterly  worthless,  yet  he 
not  only  continued  his  visits,  but  gave  them 
medicine  and  sent  them  provisions  from  a 
neighboring  store. 

Notwithstanding    the    arduous    duties    of 
such  an  extensive  private  practice,  Dr.  Hen- 


dry found  time  to  attend  to  public  duties. 
For  many  years  he  had  charge  of  the  Glou- 
cester County  Almshouse.  He  served  as 
surgeon  of  Captain  J.  B.  Cooper's  volunteer 
cavalry  in  1805,  formed  from  the  young  men 
of  Haddonfield  and  Woodbury.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  religious  affairs.  He  was  a 
member  and  vestryman  of  St.  Mary's  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church,  Colestown,  until 
its  congregation  was  drawn  away  from  it  by 
the  building  of  new  churches  in  the  growing 
towns  of  Moorestown  and  Camden.  Dr. 
Hendry  was  one  of  the  originators  of  St. 
Paul's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Cam- 
den, and  was  chairman  of  the  first  meeting 
held  in  the  city  hall,  in  that  city,  March  12, 
1830,  whereat  the  organization  of  this  church 
was  completed.  At  this  meeting  he  was 
elected  one  of  its  vestrymen. 

Dr.  Hendry  was  a  physician  of  great  abil- 
ity, and  one  who  kept  pace  with  the  growth 
of  knowledge  in  his  profession.  He  stood 
pre-eminent  in  this  county,  both  as  a  physi- 
cian and  surgeon,  and  his  services  as  a  con- 
sultant were  in  frequent  request.  He  pos- 
sessed those  magnetic  personal  attributes 
which  endeared  him  to  the  people  to  such  an 
extent,  that  when  his  barn,  horses  and  equip- 
ments were  destroyed  by  an  incendiary  fire, 
they  raised  a  subscription  for  him  and 
quickly  rebuilt  the  building  and  replaced  the 
destroyed  personal  property.  With  these  he 
combined  the  sterling  qualities  of  the  true 
physician.  No  doctor  in  this  county  has 
done  more  to  elevate  the  practice  of  medicine 
from  a  trade  to  a  profession.  By  his  exam- 
ple he  taught  this  community  that  there  was 
attached  to  it  a  philanthropy  and  a  benevo- 
lence that  widely  separates  it  from  other  oc- 
cupations, and,  by  dying  a  poor  man,  when 
so  many  opportunities  offered  to  secure  gain, 
he  illustrated  the  fact  that  the  services  of 
such  men  cannot  be  measured  by  money. 

Dr.  Hendry  married,  June  7,  1798,  Eliz- 
abeth, daughter  of  Dr.  Charles  Dutfield,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  had  .seven  daughters  and 


two  sons, — Charles  H.  and  Bowman  Hendry, 
both  physicians  in  Camden  County. 

Cotemporary  with  the  early  portion  of  Dr. 
Hendry's  career,  and  located  at  C-olestown, 
three  miles  distant  from  him,  was  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Bloomfield,  who  lived  in  a  small  hip-roof 
frame  house  on  the  road  from  Haddonfield 
to  Moorestown,  just  north  of  the  church. 
This  house  was  torn  down  a  few  years  since. 
Dr.  Bloomfield,  born  in  1756,  was  the  second 
son  of  Dr.  Moses  Bloomfield,  of  Woodbridge, 
N.  J.,  and  younger  brother  of  Joseph,  who 
became  Governor  of  New  Jersey.  In  1790 
the  doctor  applied  for  admission  to  the  State 
Society,  but  did  not  press  his  application, 
and  his  name  was  dropped.  It  is  not  known 
how  long  he  followed  his  profession  here, 
but  his  practice  must  have  been  limited  in 
consequence  of  his  convivial  habits,  and  the 
great  popularity  of  his  competitor.  He  died 
in  1806,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Mary's ' 
Churchyard,  now  Colestown  Cemetery. 
Two  of  his  sons  who  survived  him  fell  in 
the  War  of  1812. 

There  is  no  record  of  any  physician  hav- 
ing settled  in  Camden  prior  to  the  nineteenth 
century.  Its  proximity  to  Philadelphia 
seems  to  have  made  the  village  dependent 
upon  its  neighbor  for  its  medical  attendance. 
It  is  probable  that  some  doctor  may  have 
attempted  to  practice  there  for  a  short  time, 
but,  not  succeeding,  moved  away,  leaving  no 
trace  behind  him,  not  even  as  much  as  did  a 
Dr.  Ellis,  who,  in  1809,  had  an  office  on 
Market  Street,  above  Second.  The  only  fact 
preserved  of  him  is  that  in  this  year  he 
dressed  the  wounded  forearm  of  a  child,  but 
first  bled  the  patient  in  the  other  arm  before 
binding  up  the  wound,  yet  the  child  recovered. 

Dr.  Samuel  Harris  was  the  first  physician 
to  settle  permanently  in  Camden.  As  he 
was  the  connecting  link  between  the  old- 
fashioned  practitioners  of  the  la.st  century  and 
the  association  known  as  the  Camden  County 


Medical  Society  he  is  worthy  of  especial 
consideration.  His  father  was  Dr.  Isaac 
Harris,  born  in  1741,  who  studied  medicine 
and  practiced  near  <^^uibbletown,  Piscataway 
township,  Middlesex  County,  N.  J.  From 
there  he  removed  to  Pittsgrove,  Salem 
County,  about  1771.  Here  he  pursued  his 
profession  successfully  for  many  years,  and 
died  in  1808.  He  possessed  a  good  medical 
library.  While  a  resident  in  Middlesex  he 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  organization 
of  the  New  Jersey  State  Medical  Society, 
being  the  sixth  signer  to  the  "  Instruments 
of  Association,"  and  became  its  president  in 
1792.  In  the  Revolutionary  War  he  was 
commissioned  surgeon  of  General  New- 
combe's  brigade.  His  brother,  Dr.  Jacob 
Harris,  also  a  surgeon  in  the  same  army, 
dressed  the  wounds  of  Count  Donop,  the 
Hessian  commander,  who  was  defeated  and 
mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Red  Bank, 
and  who  died  in  an  adjacent  farm-house." 
Another  brother.  Dr.  Benjamin  Harris, 
practiced  and  died  in  Pittsgrove.  Dr.  Isaac 
Harris  had  two  wives.  The  first  Avas  Mar- 
garet Pierson,  of  Morris  or  Essex  County  ; 
the  second,  Anna,  daughter  of  Alexander 
Moore,  of  Bridgeton,  Cimiberland  County. 
By  the  first  he  had  four  children  ;  one,  Isaac 
Jr.,  studied  medicine  and  practiced  in  Sa- 
lem County.  By  the  second  wife  he  had  nine 
children,  one  of  whom,  Samuel,  is  now  under 
consideration. 

Dr.  Samuel  Harris  was  born  January  6, 
1781.  He  studied  medicine  with  his  father. 
It  is  said  that  he  attended  medical  lectures 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  but  his 
name  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  graduates 
of  that  institution.  He  began  the  practice 
of  medicine  in  Philadelphia,  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  Fourth  Street  and  Williug's  Alley, 
but  indorsing  for  a  relative,  he  lost  all  his 
property.  He  then  determined  to  settle  in 
Camden,  and  grow  up  with  the  place.     He 


1  Hon.  John  Clement's  M.Sti. 


-  Wicke's  History  of  Medicine  in  New  Jersey. 


located  in  1811  in  the  old  brick  building  on 
Cooper  Street,  above  Front.  While  he  jDrac- 
ticed  medicine  in  Camden  he  still  retained 
some  of  his  patients  in  Philadelphia,  and  to 
visit  them  was  compelled  to  cross  the  river 
in  a  row-boat,  the  only  means  of  crossing  at 
that  time.  In  1825  he  purchased  the  large 
rough-cast  house  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
Second  and  Cooper  Streets,  which  had  been 
built  by  Edward  Sharp.  Here  he  kept  his 
office  and  a  small  stock  of  drugs,  it  being  at 
that  time  the  only  place  in  Camden  where 
medicine  could  be  purchased.  Dr.  Harris 
was  a  polished  gentleman  and  a  man  of 
ability,  and  had  a  large  practice  in  the  town 
and  in  the  surrounding  country.  He  held 
to  the  religious  faith  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  1830,  and  was  a 
vestryman  in  it  until  his  death.  Dr.  Harris 
married  Anna,  daughter  of  John  and  Keziah 
Kay,  and  granddaughter  of  Captain  Joseph 
Thorne,  of  the  army  of  the  Revolution. 
He  died  November  25,  1843,  and  is  buried 
in  Newtown  Cemetery.  His  widow  died 
July  16,  1868.  He  had  no  children.  He 
bequeathed  his  estate,  which  was  large,  to  his 
adopted  daughter  and  wife's  niece,  Miriam 
Kay  Clement  (now  wife  of  Dr.  Charles  D. 
Maxwell,  United  States  Navy),  to  niece 
Harriet  (wife  of  Colonel  Robert  M.  Arm- 
strong), to  niece  Anna  M.  (wife  of  Richard 
Wells)  and  to  niece  Eliza  T.  (wife  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Ammerman). 

In  1812  Dr.  Francis  Hover  settled  in 
Camden,  but  remained  only  a  short  time. 
He  was  a  native  of  Salem  County  and 
received  his  license  to  practice  medicine  June 
4,  1794.  He  began  his  professional  career 
in  his  native  town  ;  from  thence  he  removed 
to  near  Swedesboro',  and  then  to  Camden. 
From  the  latter  place  he  returned  to  Swedes- 
boro'. In  1821  he  changed  his  residence  to 
Smyrna,  Kent  County,  Del.,  where  he  died 
May  29,  1832.' 

1  6.  Wickes'  History  of  .Medicine  in  New  Jersey. 


For  a  few  years  Dr.  John  A.  Elkinton  was 
a  co-laborer  with  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry  in 
Haddonfield.  He  was  a  native  of  Port 
Elizabeth,  Cumberland  County,  N.  J.,  born 
October  19,  1801,  and  was  the  son  of  John 
and  Rhoda  Elkinton.  Selecting  the  pro- 
fession of  medicine,  he  attended  lectures  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1822.  He  commenced  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Haddonfield,  where 
he  remained  until  1828.  Being  an  energetic 
and  active  man,  this  country  place  did  not 
offer  a  wide  enough  field  for  him,  so  he 
removed  to  Manayunk,  a  suburb  of  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  resided  for  a  short  time. 
In  the  same  year  he  moved  into  the  city, 
where  he  continued  in  his  profession.  In 
the  year  1832  he  took  an  active  part  in 
combating  the  epidemic  of  cholera.  He  like- 
wise became  interested  in  public  affairs.  For 
many  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Board  of  Health.  In  1838  he  was 
the  projector  of  the  Monument  Cemetery  in 
that  city,  and  owned  the  ground  upon  which 
it  was  laid  out.  Afterward  he  was  elected 
an  alderman,  when  he  gradually  relinquished 
the  practice  of  medicine.  On  October  5, 
1830,  he  married  Ann  De  Lamater.  He  died, 
December  15,  1853. 

Dr.  Edward  Edwards  Gough  practiced 
medicine  in  Tansboro'  between  1826  and 
1835.  He  was  a  native  of  Shropshire,  Eng- 
land, in  which  country  he  acquired  some 
knowledge  of  medicine.  In  1824  he  lived  in 
Philadelphia,  and  there  he  married  his  wife, 
Elizabeth  Dick.  In  1826  he  settled  in 
Tansboro',  and  commenced  the  practice  of 
medicine,  his  visits  extending  throughout  the 
surroundino:  countrv.  While  living  there  he 
attended  medical  lectures  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  but  he  never  graduated. 
He  died  in  Tansboro'  in  1835.  His  widow 
is  still  living,  in  Indiana. 

Camden  County  Medical  Society. — 
Between  the  years  1844  and  A 846  the  phy- 
sicians of  Camden  Cbunty  began  to  feel  tlic 


8a 


need  of  a  closer  union.  Scattered  as  they 
were,  they  but  occasionally  met  ;  sometimes 
they  would  pass  each  other  on  the  road  ; 
sometimes,  where  their  practices  overlapped, 
they  would  meet  each  other  at  a  patient's 
house  in  mutual  consultation.'  To  accom- 
plish this  desired  object,  a  petition  was  drawn 
up  and  signed  by  the  legal  practitioners  in 
the  county  for  presentation  to  the  New  Jer- 
sey State  Medical  Society,  asking  for  author- 
ity to  organize  a  society.  As  the  law  then 
stood,  no  one  was  legally  qualified  to  practice 
medicine,  or  capable  of  joining  a  medical  so- 
ciety in  New  Jersey,  unless  he  had  passed  an 
examination  before  a  board  of  censors  of  the 
State  Society,  and  received  a  license  signed  by 
the  board. 

In  the  year  1846  the  State  Society  met  at 
New  Brunswick.  The  petition  of  the  phy- 
sicians in  Camden  County  being  laid  before 
it,  they  issued  a  commission,  dated  May  12, 
1846,  authorizing  the  following  legally  qual- 
ified persons  to  form  a  society,  namely :  Drs. 
Jacob  P.  Thornton  and  Charles  D.  Hendry, 
of  Haddonfield ;  Dr.  James  C.  Risley,  of 
Berlin  ;  and  Drs.  Richard  M.  Cooper,  Oth- 
niel  H.  Taylor  and  Isaac  S.  Mulford,  of 
Camden.  In  accordance  with  this  authority, 
the  above-named  gentlemen,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Dr.  Mulford,  who  was  detained  by 
sickness,  met  at  the  hotel  of  Joseph  C. 
Shivers,  in  Haddonfield,  on  August  14, 
1846,  and  organized  a  society  under  the 
title  of  "  The  District  Medical  Society  of  the 
County  of  Camden,  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey."  Dr.  James  C.  Risley  was  elected 
president;  Dr.  Othniel  H.  Taylor,  vice-pres- 
ident ;  Dr.  Richard  M.  Cooper,  secretary,  and 
Dr.  Jacob  P.  Thornton,  treasurer.  A  con- 
stitution and  by-laws  were  adopted  similar  to 
those  of  the  State  So(Mety.  At  this  meeting 
Drs.  Thornton,  Hendry,  Taylor  and  Cooper 
were  elected  delegates  to  the  State  Society. 
A  notice  of  the  formation  of  the  society  was 

iDr.  R.  M.  Cooper's  MSS.,  History  of  Camden  County 
Society. 


ordered  to  be  published  in  the  county  news- 
papers. 

Haddonfield  was  thus  honored  by  having 
the  first  medical  society  in  the  county  organ- 
ized within  its  limits.  The  rules  of  the 
State  Society  directed  that  county  societies 
should  hold  their  meetings  at  the  county-seat, 
yet  Haddonfield  was  not  the  seat  of  justice. 
The  county  of  Camden  had,  in  1844,  been 
set  off  from  Gloucester  County,  and  the 
courts  of  law  were  held  in  Camden,  and  the 
public  records  kept  there,  but  the  county- 
town  had  not  been  selected.  The  Legisla- 
ture had  authorized  an  election  to  decide 
upon  a  permanent  place  for  the  public  build- 
ings. The  people  were  divided  upon  the 
subject.  A  most  violent  opposition  had 
sprung  up  in  the  townships  against  their 
location  in  Camden,  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  former  desiring  them  to  be 
built  at  Long-a-coming  (now  Berlin).  It 
was  during  this  contest  that  the  society  or- 
ganized, and  Drs.  Hendry  and  Risley,  who 
had  charge  of  the  petition,  had  inserted  in 
the  commission  the  name  of  Haddonfield. 
The  second  meeting,  which  had  been  left 
subject  to  the  call  of  the  president,  was  also 
held  in  Haddonfield  on  March  30,  1847.  At 
this  meeting  Dr.  Mulford  raised  the  question 
of  the  legality  of  the  place  of  meeting,  and 
a  committee  was  thereupon  appointed  to  lay 
the  matter  before  the  State  Society,  who  de- 
cided that  these  meetings,  although  irregular, 
were  not  illegal,  as  the  county-seat  had  not 
yet  been  definitely  fixed)  but  directed  that 
hereafter  the  meetings  should  be  held  in  Cam- 
den. 

The  third  meeting  of  the  society  was  a 
special  one,  called  by  the  president,  and  was 
held  on  June  15,  1847,  at  English's  Hotel, 
which  was  situated  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
Cooper  and  Point  Streets,  a  building  which 
has  since  been  torn  down  and  dwellings 
erected  upon  the  site.  At  this  time  it  was 
decided  to  hold  semi-annual  meetings:  the 
animal  one  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  June, 


8  b 


and  the  serai-annual  on  the  third  Tuesday 
in  December.  These  were  always  punctually 
held  until  1852,  when,  upon  the  motion  of 
Dr.  A.  D.  Woodruff,  of  Haddonfield,  the 
semi-annual  meeting  in  December  was  dis-. 
continued.  On  June  18,  1867,  Dr.  R.  M. 
Cooper,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  by- 
laws, reported  that  the  State  Society  having 
changed  their  day  of  assembling  from  Jan- 
uary to  the  third  Tuesday  in  May,  it  would 
necessitate  the  election  of  delegates  to  that 
society  eleven  months  before  it  met.  The 
Camden  County  Society  then  changed  the 
time  of  the  annual  meeting  from  June  to  the 
second  Tuesday  in  May,  and  this  rule  still 
continues.  For  twenty  years  the  semi-annual 
meetings  had  been  discontinued,  when,  in 
May,  1873,  Dr.  N.  B.  Jennings,  of  Had- 
donfield, moved  that  they  should  be  resumed. 
This  was  approved,  and  the  second  Tuesday 
in  November  named  as  the  time  for  holding 
them.  As  the  society  increased  in  numbers 
and  its  proceedings  became  more  interesting, 
the  propriety  of  holding  more  frequent  meet- 
ings began  to  be  discussed,  until,  in  1884, 
Dr.  E.  L.  B.  Godfrey,  of  Camden,  proposed 
a  third  meeting,  on  the  second  Tuesday  in 
February  of  each  year.  This  was  adopted 
in  the  succeeding  year. 

At  this,  the  third  stated  meeting  of  the 
society,  in  1847,  a  resolution  was  passed  that 
caused  great  excitement  in  the  city  and  coun- 
ty of  Camden.     It  read  as  follows : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  names  of  all  the  regularly 
licensed  practitioners  in  Camden  County  be  pub- 
lished in  one  of  the  papers  of  the  county,  to- 
gether with  the  twelfth  section  of  the  law  incor- 
porating the  Medical  Society  of  New  Jersey." 

This  law  imposed  a  fine  and  imprison- 
ment upon  any  one  practicing  medicine  in 
the  State  without  a  license  from  the  State 
Society.  The  insertion  of  this  in  a  county 
paper  caused  the  gravest  anxiety  among  the 
few  irregular  practitioners  and  their  patrons, 
and  provoked  from  Dr.  Lorenzo  F.  Fisler  a 
long  communication  in  the  Camden  Demo- 


ocrat.      Dr.  Fisler,  who  had  been  practicing 
medicine    in  Camden    since  1837,    had    not 
joined    in    organizing  the    County    Medical 
Society,  nor  had  he  taken  any  part  in  it.   He 
was  a  man  of  more    than    ordinary  ability, 
active  in  public  affairs  and  was   at  one  time 
mayor  of  the   city.     He   was   a    writer   of 
considerable  force.     He  took  umbrage  at  be-, 
ing    inferential ly  placed  in  the  illegal  class, 
claiming  that  he  had  passed  his  examination 
before  the  board  of  censors  of  Salem  County 
in   1825,    and    had  received  their  certificate 
therefor,   but  had  never  presented  it  to  the 
State  Society  for  a  license,  and  that  the  doc- 
ument had  been  mislaid  or  lost.     Upon  this 
the  Camden  County  Society  made  inquiry  of 
Dr.  Charles  Hannah,  of  the  board  of  censors 
of  Salem  County.     He  replied  that  he  had 
been  a  member  of  every  board  that  had  ever 
met  in  the   county,   and  that  Dr.  Fisler  had 
never  received  a  license  from  it.     The  latter 
immediately  went    down  to  Port  Elizabeth, 
Cumberland  County,   his  native  place,    and 
among  some  old  papers  of  his  father's  found 
the   missing  certificate,    with  Dr.    Hannah's 
name  among  the  signatures.     After  the  dis- 
covery of  this  document  the  society  held  a 
special  meeting  on   September  2,    1847,  and 
prepared  an  address  to  the  public,. explaining 
their  reasons    for  falling  into  the  error,  and 
disclaiming  any    unfriendly  feeling  towards 
Dr.  Fisler.^     Although   the  doctor  obtained 
the  required  license   from  the  State  Society, 
he  ever  after  held  aloof  from  it,  and  never 
joined  the  Camden  County  Medical  Society, 
In   the  year    1816  the  New  Jersey  State 
Medical  Society  had  obtained  from  the  State 
a   new  charter,    which  gave  them  exclusive 
jurisdiction  over  the  medical  profession  in  it, 
with  a  power  of  license  which  alone  (qualified 
a  person  to  legally  practice  medicine.     In  ac- 
cordance with    this  enactment,  the  State  So- 
ciety appointed  boards  of  censors  for  differ- 

iDr.  R.  M.Cooper's  MSS.,  History  Camden  County 
Medical  Society. 


8e 


ent  districts.  It  was  tlie  duty  of  these 
boards  to  examine  all  applications  for  mem- 
bership in  the  society,  and  also  to  examine 
any  one  desiring  a  license  to  practice,  as  to 
his  professional  qnalifications,  and  if  he 
passed  successfully  to  issue  to  him  a  certificate. 
No  one,  not  even  graduates  of  medical  col- 
leges, was  exempt  from  this  examination,  un- 
til the  year  1851,  when  the  Legislature 
passed  an  amendment  to  the  act  of  1816, 
authorizing  the  graduates  of  certain  colleges, 
which  were  named,  to  practice  medicine  in 
New  Jersey  by  merely  exhibiting  their 
diplomas  to  the  president  of  the  State  Society, 
who  thereupon  was  directed  to  give  them  a 
license,  which  was  complete  upon  its  being- 
recorded  in  the  clerk's  office  of  the  county 
wherein  the  recipient  intended  to  practice,  and 
upon  the  payment  of  a  fee  of  five  dollars.  Du- 
ring the  period  between  the  organization  of 
the  Camden  County  Medical  Society  and  the 
passage  of  this  law  its  board  of  censors  ex- 
amined thirteen  physicians,  some  of  whom 
were  to  practice  elsewhere  in  New  Jersey. 
Their  names  were, — 

Examined.  Name.  Location. 

1848.  Dr.  Bowman  Heudry,  Camden  County. 

1848.  Dr.  A.  Dickinson  Woodruff,  Camden  County. 
1848.  Dr.  Daniel  M.  Stout,  Camden  County. 

1848.  Dr.  William  Elmer,  Cumberland  County. 
1848.  Dr.  T.  Barron  Potter,  Cumberland  County. 
1848.  Dr.  Theophilus  Patterson,       Salem  County. 

1848.  Dr.  Edward  J.  Record,         Camden  County. 

1849.  Dr.  Theodore  Varrick,  Hudson  County. 
1849.  Dr.  John  J.  Jessup,              Atlantic  County. 

1849.  Dr.  John  W.  Snowden,  Camden  County. 

1850.  Dr.  Thomas  F.  CuUen,  Camden  County. 
1850.  Dr.  Sylvester  Birdsell,  Camden  County. 
1850.  Dr.  Jacob  Grigg,  Camden  County. 

Another  amendment  was  enacted  by  the 
Legislature  in  1854,  which  permitted  a  grad- 
uate of  any  medical  college  to  practice  medi- 
cine in  the  State  by  merely  filing  his  diplo- 
ma in  the  clerk's  office  of  the  county  in 
which  lie  located.  Upon  the  passage  of  this 
law  the  Camden  County  Society  required,  as  an 
eligibility  to  membership,  that  the  applicant 
should  procure  a  diploma  from  the  State  So- 


ciety. This  rule  continued  in  force  until 
1866,  the  centennial  aniversary  of  the  latter 
society,  which  had  the  year  previous  surren- 
dered its  old  charter  and  obtained  a  new  one 
which  relinquished  all  powers  of  licensure. 
Since  then  and  up  to  the  present  time  any 
physician,  a  resident  in  the  county  one  year, 
may  apply  for  membership  in  the  Camden 
County  Medical  Society.  His  application  is 
referred  to  the  board  of  censors,  who  report 
at  the  next  meeting.  If  he  is  found  to  be 
of  good  moral  character  and  possesses  the 
professional  qualifications  required  by  the 
American  Medical  Association,  he  is  recom- 
mended for  election. 

The  constitution  of  the  society  provided 
that  the  officers  should  be  elected  annually. 
It  was  intended  to  re-elect  yearly  those  who 
were  first  placed  in  office.  Dr.  Risley  was 
continued  as  president  until  a  special  meet- 
ing in  1849,  when  his  office  was  declared  va- 
cant in  consequence  of  a  tardiness  in  settling 
his  financial  accounts  with  the  society.  Al- 
though these  were  afterwards  satisfactorily 
adjusted,  he  withdrew  from  it,  and  Dr.  Isaac 
S.  Mulford  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
Dr.  O.  H.  Taylor,  who  was  the  first  vice- 
president,  and  Dr.  R.  M.  Cooper,  the  first 
secretary,  were  continued  until  1850.  Dr. 
Jacob  P.  Thornton  was  the  first  treasurer 
but  he  does  not  appear  to  have  attended  the 
meetings  regularly,  and  in  1848  Dr.  Cooper 
was  elected  to  fill  his  place.  At  the  meeting 
held  in  June,  1850,  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry 
moved  that  the  president  and  vice-president 
be  eligible  for  election  for  only  two  years  in 
succession  and  the  by-laws  were  so  amended. 
In  June,  1854,  the  words  "two  (2)  years  in 
succession  "  were  erased  and  "  one-  year " 
substituted.  This  was  done  to  open  the  of- 
fices to  new  and  younger  members  ;  conse- 
quently, since  that  date  these  two  officials 
have  held  their  position  for  one  year,  a  plan 
that  has  proved  to  be  satisfactory  and  still 
continues.  Dr.  Cooper,  the  first  secretary 
and  treasurer,  held  these  offices    until  1852, 


8d 


when  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Thomas  F. 
Cullen,  who  occupied  them  for  two  years  ; 
then  Dr.  Richard  C.  Dean  filled  them  from 
1855  to  1857;  Dr.  John  V.  Schenck,  in  1858 ; 
and  Dr.  Henry  Ackley  from  the  latter  date 
until  1861.  At  this  time  the  society  had  be- 
come a  permanent  institution.  It  had  never 
failed  to  hold  a  meeting  at  the  appointed 
time.  Valuable  medical  and  historical  pa- 
pers were  accumulating  and  the  want  of  a 
suitable  person  who  would  permanently  take 
care  of  them  was  keenly  felt.  It  was  there- 
fore determined  that  while  under  the  consti- 
tution the  secretary  must  be  elected  annually, 
it  would  be  well  to  re-elect  him  so  long  as 
he  should  satisfactorily  perform  his  duties 
and  would  accept  the  office.  Dr.  H.  Genet 
Taylor,  a  young  graduate  in  medicine,  who 
had  joined  the  society  the  year  previous,  was 
elected,  and  has  been  continuously  re-elected, 
faithfully  performing  the  duties  of  his  office 
for  twenty-five  years  up  to  the  present  time. 
During  the  Civil  War  he  was  absent  serving 
his  country  as  surgeon  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  the  years  1862  and  1863,  and  in 
1865  he  was  president  of  the  society,  when 
his  duties  were  performed  by  a  secretary  pro 
tempore.  Dr.  Taylor  was  treasurer  as  well 
as  secretary  until  1874,  when  the  two  offices 
were  separated  and  Dr.  Isaac  B.  Mulford 
was  made  treasurer.  This  he  held  until  his 
death,  in  1882,  when  Dr.  Alexander  Mecray, 
the  present  incumbent,  was  elected  to  fill  the 
vacancy. 

In  a  few  years  after  the  formation  of  the 
society  there  arose  a  need  of  collecting  each 
year  the  medical  history  of  the  people  and 
the  hygienic  condition  of  the  county.  At  a 
meeting  held  June  18,  1852,  Dr.  Edward  J. 
Record  made  a  motion  that  a  committee  of 
three  be  appointed  "  to  report  of  the  diseases 
incident  in  the  county  and  also  interesting 
cases  that  may  come  under  their  notice." 
The  committee  were  Drs.  O.  H.  Taylor,  A. 
D.  Woodruff  and  E.  J.  Record.  At  the 
next  meeting,  in  1853,  the  name  of  "  Stand- 


ing Committee "  was  given  to  it  and  each 
member  was  requested  to  transmit  to  the 
chairman  of  it  any  interesting  cases  occurring 
in  his  practice.  Dr.  O.  H.  Taylor  was  its 
first  chairman.  The  members  of  this  com- 
mittee were  frequently  changed,  its  number 
remaining  the  same  until  1875,  when  it 
was  increased  to  five  members.  In  1878 
Dr.  John  W.  Snowden  was  elected  chair- 
man and  has  been  continued  until  now. 

The  Camden  County  Medical  Society  is 
entitled  to  representation  in  the  State  Society 
by  delegates  to  the  number  of  three  at  large, 
and  one  additional  for  every  ten  members. 
It  also  sends  delegates  to  the  American  Med- 
ical Association  and  to  the  neighboring  dis- 
trict societies  in  this  State, 

One  of  the  most  interesting  proceedings  of 
the  early  days  of  the  society  was  the  ordering, 
in  1851,  of  an  enumeration  of  all  the  physi- 
cians practicing  in  the  county.  The  com- 
mittee appointed  for  that  purpose  reported  at 
the  meeting  held  June  15,  1852,  that  the 
total  number  was  twenty-seven.  Of  these, 
one  was  a  botanical,  or  herb  doctor,  who  was 
not  entitled  to,  nor  did  he  claim,  the  privi- 
leges of  an  educated  physician.  Two  were 
homoeopaths,  one  of  whom  was  a  graduate  of 
a  regular  college,  and  was  a  licentiate  under 
the  law  of  1851.  The  remaining  twenty- 
four  were  graduates  of  accepted  medical  col- 
leges, twenty-two  of  them  holding  licenses 
from  the  State  Society,  although  five  had  ne- 
glected to  register  their  names  in  the  clerk's 
office,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  new  law.  The  names  of  all  these  doctors 
have  not  been  preserved.  In  the  year  1872 
another  census  of  the  county  was  taken  by 
direction  of  the  society.  A  report  made  to 
it  at  the  annual  meeting  held  on  the  14th  of 
May,  in  that  year,  stated  that  the  total  num- 
ber of  practicing  physicians  was  fifty-three. 
(Jf  this  number,  thirty-three  were  "  regular 
graduates,  practicing  as  such,  one  regular, 
but  practicing  homoeopathy  at  times."  There 
were  thirteen  professed  homoeopaths  and  five 


eclectics.  The  regular  physicians  were  lo- 
cated as  follows :  Twenty-one  in  Camden 
City,  four  in  Haddoniield,  three  in  Black- 
wood, three  in  Gloucester  City,  one  near 
Waterford  and  one  in  Berlin. 

The  (kmden  County  Medical  Society  has 
always  taken  an  active  interest  in  such  pub- 
lic affairs  as  legitimately  came  within  its 
province,  and  were  calculated  to  be  of  bene- 
fit to  the  county  or  State,  and  has  never 
failed  to  throw  its  influence  in  behalf  of 
whatever  might  conduce  to  the  public  wel- 
fare. As  early  as  1854  Dr.  John  W.  Sriow- 
den  introduced  into  the  society  a  resolution 
"  that  the  delegates  of  this  society  are  hereby 
instructed  to  suggest  at  the  next  meeting  of 
the  State  Society  the  propriety  of  an  appli- 
cation to  the  next  Legislature  for  such  mod- 
ification of  the  present  law  as  shall  enforce 
the  registration  of  all  the  marriages,  births 
and  deaths  occurring  in  the  State."  This 
measure  has  since  that  time  been  acted  upon 
by  the  Legislature  of  New  Jersey,  and  an 
efficient  system  of  recording  these  data  is  now 
in  operation. 

The  next  public  event  that  aroused  the 
society  was  the  breaking  out  of  the  great 
Rebellion  in  1861,  and  the  calling  for  troops 
by  the  government.  To  this  call  the  response 
was  prompt.  Of  the  eighteen  physicians 
whose  names  were  registered  on  the  roll  of 
its  members  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  five 
had  enlisted  in  the  service  of  their  country : 
Doctors  Richard  C.  Dean  and  Henry  Ackley 
had  entered  the  navy,  Doctors  H.  Genet 
Taylor  and  Bowman  Hendry  in  the  army, 
and  Dr.  John  R.  Stevenson,  in  the  Provost 
Marshal  General's  Department,  all  as  sur- 
geons. The  two  in  the  navy  were  still  on 
its  rolls,  having  engaged  for  a  life-service. 
The  three  wlio  had  been  in  the  volunteei' 
service  all  had  honorable  discharges. 

The  society  keeps  a  careful  guardianship  over 
its  county  interests.  It  having  been  reported, 
in  1879,  that  the  Board  of  Chosen  Freehold- 
ers had  inadvertently  appointed  an  incompe- 


tent man  as  resident  physician  of  the  County 
Insane  Asylum,  at  a  meeting  held  May  12th, 
of  that  year,  Dr.  James  M.  Ridge  "  moved 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  report 
what  action  is,  in  their  opinion,  advisable  for 
this  society  to  take  in  reference  to  the  ap- 
pointment." Doctors  James  M.  Ridge, 
Alexander  Marcy,  N.  B.  Jennings,  D.  Ben- 
jamin, E.  B.  Woolston,  D.  R.  Pancoast  and 
H.  Genet  Taylor  were  appointed.  At  the 
next  meeting  of  the  society,  held  November 
11th,  of  that  year,  the  committee  reported 
that  they  had  held  a  meeting  upon  June  4th, 
and  had  appointed  a  sub-committee,  consist- 
ing of  Doctors  D.  Benjamin  and  O.  B.  Gross, 
to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  committee  of  the 
Board  of  Freeholders  at  Blackwood,  and 
that  the  latter  had  superseded  the  late  medi- 
cal incumbent,  and  had  appointed  Dr.  Jona 
J.  Comfort,  a  former  member  of  the  society, 
as  resident  physician  of  the  Insane  Asylum. 
It  also  recommended  that  a  number  of  phy- 
sicians, members  of  the  society,  be  appointed 
to  visit  the  asylum,  in  order  that  it  might  be 
more  properly  under  their  inspection.  A 
vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to  Director  Isaac 
Nicholson,  of  the  Board  of  Freeholders,  and 
to  the  members  connected  with  him,  for  their 
assistance  in  procuring  the  desired  change. 
Dr.  Henry  E.  Branin,  of  Blackwood,  at 
present  has  charge  of  the  County  Asylum 
and  Almshouse. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  meetings  of  the 
Camden  County  Medical  Society  is  the  social 
gathering  which  accompanies  them.  The 
hour  of  assembling  was,  at  one  time,  twelve 
o'clock,  noon,  but  now  it  is  eleven  a.m.  After 
the  business  is  disposed  of,  a  collation  is  par- 
taken of,  at  the  expense  of  the  society.  It 
is  the  custom  to  invite  to  tliese  a  number  of 
distinguished  physicians  from  other  places, 
who  have  previously  joined  in  the  discussions 
upon  scientific  and  medical  subjects,  and  have 
given  the  members  the  benefit  of  their  knowl- 
edge and  experience.  The  meetings  have 
always  been  held  at  hotels,  where  suitable  ac- 


/ 


commodations  could  be  obtained.  As  was 
previously  stated,  the  first  two  were  held  at 
the  house  of  Joseph  C.  Shivers,  in  Haddon- 
field.  The  next  meeting  was  held  at  the 
hotel  of  Israel  English,  at  the  foot  of  Coop- 
er Street,  and  when  Mr.  English  became  the 
landlord  of  the  West  Jersey  Hotel,  the  so- 
ciety followed  him  to  it.  Between  1855  and 
1857,  inclusive,  they  were  transferred  to  the 
hotel  of  James  Elwell,  at  the  foot  of  Bridge 
Avenue.  This  building  has  been  demolished, 
and  the  site  is  now  occupied  by  the  offices  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company.  The 
annual  meeting  of  June  21,  1859,  was  held 
at  the  hotel  at  Ellisburg,  then  kept  by  Stacy 
Stockton.  Returning  to  the  West  Jersey 
Hotel,  this  continued  to  be  the  favorite  place 
until  the  retirement  of  Mr.  English  as  host. 
Mr.  Samuel  Archer,  who  then  kept  the  old 
house  at  Cooper's  Point,  having  offered  to 
provide  a  suitable  entertainment,  and  the 
Camden  and  Atlantic  Railroad  Company 
proffering  the  use  of  their  rooms  adjoining, 
for  meeting  purposes,  the  society  met  there 
from  1873  to  1880.  Since  then  the  meetings 
have  been  held  three  times  at  Gloucester 
(Buena  Vista  House  and  Thompson's  Ho- 
tel), but  otherwise  at  the  West  Jersey 
Hotel. 

The  expenses  incurred  by  the  society  were 
met  by  an  assessment  upon  each  member  for 
a  pro-rata  share  of  them,  until  the  death  of 
Dr.  R.  M.  Cooper,  in  1874.  In  his  will, 
which  was  dated  April  28,  1874,  and  pro- 
bated June  4th,  of  the  same  year,  was  the 
following  clause,  "  I  give  and  bequeath  to 
the  Camden  County  District  Medical  Society, 
of  which  I  have  been  a  member  since  its 
commencement,  the  sum  of  three  thousand 
dollars,  to  be  invested  by  the  said  Society  in 
the  loans  of  the  United  States,  the  State  of 
New  Jersey,  or  the  City  and  County  of  Cam- 
den or  some  other  public  loan,  and  the  in- 
terest of  said  sum  to  be  used  by  the  said  So- 
ciety in  the  payment  of  the  expenses  ordina- 
rily incurred  by  the  said  Society.     In  case 


my  executors  should  think  proper  to  pay 
said  legacy  in  any  securities  belonging  to  my 
estate,  bearing  interest  at  their  market  value, 
I  do  autliorize  and  direct  them  to  pay  said 
legacy  in  such  securities  instead  of  cash." 
To  accept  of  this  legacy,  the  society,  at  a 
meeting  held  May  10,  1875,  determined  to 
appoint  two  trustees,  one  for  one  year  and 
one  for  two  years,  who,  with  the  treasurer, 
should  constitute  a  board  of  finance.  These 
were  elected  the  succeeding  year,  and  were 
Dr.  John  V.  Schenck  for  two  years,  Dr. 
Thomas  F.  Cullen  for  one  year,  and  Dr. 
Isaac  B.  Mulford,  treasurer.  .Dr.  Cooper's 
executors  set  aside  three  one  thousand  dollar 
seven  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  West  Jersey 
Railroad  Company,  which  were  left  with, 
and  are  still  in  the  possession  of,  John  W. 
Wright,  who  is  one  of  them,  who  pays  the 
interest  as  it  becomes  due. 

The  New  Jersey  State  Medical  Society  has 
three  times  met  as  the  guests  of  the  Camden 
County  Society.  The  first  time  in  1849,  when 
the  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  former  society 
convened  at  Elwell's  Hotel,  on  November 
13th  of  that  year.  The  annual  meeting,  in 
January,  1864,  was  held  in  Camden,  at  Mor- 
gan's Hall,  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Mar- 
ket Streets.  The  reception  committee  were 
Drs.  R.  M.  Cooper,  T.  F.  Cullen,  J.  V. 
Schenck,  O.  H.  Taylor  and  A.  D.  Woodruff. 
They  found  great  difficulty  in  finding  hotel 
accommodations  for  members,  some  of  whom 
had  to  go  to  Philadelphia  to  secure  them. 
The  expenses  incurred  by  the  committee  were 
paid  by  Dr.  R.  M.  Cooper  out  of  his  private 
funds. 

In  the  year  1874  Atlantic  City  had  become 
a  favorite  seaside  resort,  with  several  hotels 
each  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  whole 
State  Society.  There  being  no  medical  soci- 
ety in  Atlantic  County,  it  was  determined  by 
the  Camden  County  Society  to  invite  the 
first-named  society  to  hold  their  next  annual 
meeting  there.  A  committee,  consisting  of 
Drs.  J.  W.  Suowden,  J.  V.  Schenck,  J.  Or- 


lando  White,  I.  B.  Heulings,  J.  R.  Stevenson 
and  T.  F.  CuUen,  was  appointed  to  make 
preparations.  The  meeting  was  held  May 
25, 1875.  It  was  memorable  for  several  rea- 
sons. It  was  the  first  time  a  county  society 
had  ever  selected  a  place  outside  of  its  own 
jurisdiction  to  entertain  its  parent  society. 
The  Camden  and  Atlantic  Railroad  Company 
provided,  free  of  expense,  a  special  train  to 
convey  delegates  and  invited  guests  both  ways, 
issuing  tickets  good  for  three  days,  on  any 
train. 

As  far  as  is  known,  this  was  the  first 
instance  in  the  United  States  where  a  railroad 
had  offered  such  a  courtesy  to  any  body  of 
medical  men.  For  several  years  a  few  of  the 
members  had  been  accompanied  by  their 
wives  and  daughters  to  these  meetings  of  the 
State  Society,  which  hold  for  tw^o  days.  As 
the  families  of  physicians  enjoy  but  few  op- 


portunities to  join  them  in  a  holiday  excur- 
sion, it  was  determined  by  the  committee  to 
offer  the  greatest  inducements  for  the  ladies 
to  accompany  the  delegates  to  Atlantic  City. 
Invitations  were  issued  for  them  to  attend 
and  to  partake  of  a  banquet,  which  the  Cam- 
den County  Society  had  ordered  for  the  eve- 
ning, and  the  minutest  details  of  the  shortest 
route  to  Camden  and  thence  to  the  seaside 
were  furnished  them.  The  attendance,  es- 
pecially of  ladies,  was  larger  than  it  had  ever 
been  at  any  previous  meeting.  The  State 
Society,  however,  passed  a  resolution  prohib- 
iting any  county  society  from  providing  any 
banquet  in  the  future,  because  of  the  burden 
it  would  entail  on  poorer  societies.  The  cit- 
izens of  Atlantic  City  did  all  in  their  power 
to  give  pleasure  to  their  guests. 

Members  of  the  Camden  County  Medical 
Society  since  its  organization, — 


Date  of 
admiBsioD. 

Name. 

Year  of 
graduation. 

College  where  graduated. 

■Remarks. 

1846 

.Jacob  P.  Thornton 

1828 
1839 
1844 
1832 
1825 
1822 
1844 
1846 
1847 
1828 
1847 
1848 
1844 
1848 
1849 
1843 
1844 
1848 
1843 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1856 
1854 
1858 
1860 
1858 
1862 
1863 
1861 
1845 
1852 
1859 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Removed  West 

1846 

Richard  M.  Cooper 

Died  Mav  24  1874. 

1846 

James  C.  Rislev 

Died  Nov   26,  1866 

1846 

Charles  D.  Hendry 

Died  April  29,  1869. 
Died  Sept.  5,  1869. 
Died  Feb.  17   1873. 

1846 

Othniel  H.  Taylor 

1846 

Isaac  S.  Mulford 

1847 

A.  D.  Woodruff. 

Died  Jan   1 881 

1847 

Bowman  Hendry 

Died  June  8   1868 

1847 

Daniel  M.  Stout 

Present  member. 

1847 

1848 

Benj.  W.  Blackwood 

John  V.  Schenck 

Died  Jan.  19,  1866. 
Died  Julv  25,  1882. 

1848 

Edward  J.  Record 

Expelled. 
Present  member. 

1849 

John  W.  Snowden 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

1849 

John  J.  Jessup 

Died  1S52 

1849 
1850 

Robt.  M.  Smallwood 

Jacob  Grigg 

University  of  Pennsylvauia 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Pennsylvania  Medical  College  ... 

.Jefferson  Medical  College 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania  

.Jefferson  Medical  College 

Died  Feb.  8,1856. 
Removed  to  Burl'n  Co. 

1850 

Thos.  F.  Cullen 

Died  Nov.  21,  1878. 

1850 

Sylvester  Birdsell 

Died  Mav  29,  1S83. 

1851 

Ezekial  C.  Chew 

Removed  West. 

1852 

B.  Fullerton  Miles 

Removed. 

1854 

G.  W.Bartholomew 

Expelled. 
Honorarv  member. 

1854 

Richard  C.  Dean 

1857 

N.  B.  Jennings 

Died  April  17,  1885. 
Died  Aug.  17,  1858. 
Died  Dec.  1,  1865. 

1857 

W.  G.  Thomas 

1859 

Henry    Ackley 

1860 

H.  Genet  Taylor 

Present  member. 

1860 
1863 

Henry  E.  Branin 

J.  Gilbert  Young 

Present  member. 
Honorarv  member. 

1863 
1864 
1866 

John  R.  Stevenson 

Alex.  Marcy 

Joseph  F.  Garrison 

Present  member. 
Present  member. 
Honorary  member. 

1866 
1866 

.Tames  M.  Ridge 

.Jonathan   J.  Comfort 

Present  member. 
Removed. 

8h 


Date  of 
admission 

Name. 

Year  of 
gradnation. 

College  where  graduated. 

Remarks. 

1867 
18fi7 

iPeterV.  Schenck 

H.  A.  M.  Smith 

Alex.  M.  Mecrav 

1860 
1864 
1863 
1867 
1866 
1858 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1860 
1861 
1859 
1870 
1871 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Died  March  12,  1885. 
Preseiit  member 

1867 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1867 

iJ.  Newton   Achuff". 

It.  J.  Smith 

jJohn  M  Sullivan        

Died. 

1867 
1867 

Univei'sity  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Removed  in  1868. 
Removed. 

1868 
1870 

!j.  Orlando   White 

I    W    Hewlings      

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 
Honorary  member. 

1870 
1871 

iRandall  W.  Morgan 

jj.  W.  McCuUough 

John    R.  Hanev 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Died  Oct.  20,  1884. 
Died  March  5, 1881. 

1871 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania   

Present  member. 

1871 

D.  Parrish  Pancoast 

Present  member. 

1871 

R.  B.  Okie 

Removed  to  Penna. 

1871 

Isaac  B.  Mulford 

Died  Nov.  21,  1882. 

1871 

'Thomas  Westcott 

Resigned. 
Present  member. 

1871 

iW.  H.  Ireland 

1867 
1863 
1872 
1873 
1875 
1854 
1875 
1876 
1861 
1850 
1874 
1876 
1876 
1877 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

1871 

■Geo.  W.  Boughraan 

jEdwin   Tomlinson 

^C  H    Shivers 

Present  member. 

1872 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1873 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1875 
1875 

'jVIaximilliau  West 

■E    B.  Woolston. 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Rem.  to  Atlantic  City. 
Present  member. 

1876 

E.  L.  B.  Godfrey 

W.  P.  Melcher.'. 

Present  member. 

1876 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Philadelphia  College 

Rem.  to  Burlington  Co. 
Died  Oct.  30,  1885. 
Present  member. 

1876 
1876 

'James  A.  Armstrong 

Thomas  G.  Rowand 

■E.  J.  Snitcher 

D.  W.  Blake 

W.  1.  Davis 

1876 

Chicaofo  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1876 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1877 

University  of  Pennsylvania  

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Present  member. 

1877 

Dowling   Benjamin 

Present  member. 

1877 

!John  S.Miller 

Removed. 

1878 

!J.  F.Walsh 

1876 
1844 
1870 
1878 
1878 
1866 
1879 
1879 
1872 
1870 
1881 
1863 
1882 
1882 
1876 
1877 
1880 
1880 
1884 
1878 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1878 

Is.   B.  Irwin 

IW.  H.  Iszard 

Onan  B.  Gross 

James  H.  Wroth 

Present  member. 

1879 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1879 
1879 

University  of  Pennsylvania  

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 
Rem.  to  Xew  Mexico. 

1880 

J.  W.  Donges 

Present  member. 

1881 

C   M.    Schellinger 

Present  member. 

1881 

jH.  H.   Davis 

C.  G    Garrison  

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1881 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Maryland 

Honorary  member. 

1882 

W.  A.  Hamilton 

H.  F.  Palm 

E.  P.  Townsend 

Conrad   G.  Hoell 

A.  T.  Dobson,  Jr 

P.  W.  Beale 

Daniel  Strock   

Present  member. 

1883 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1883 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1884 
1884 
1884 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 
Present  member. 
Present  member. 

1885 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 

1885 
1885 
1886 

i  Joseph  H.  Wills 

Wm.  Warnock 

Jesse  J.  Wills 

University  of  Pennsylvania  

University  of  Pennsylvania 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Jefferson  Medical  College 

Present  member. 
Present  member. 
Present  member. 

1886 

1  James  A.  Warasley 

Present  member. 

PRESinENTS   OF    CAMDEN    COVNTY   MEDICAL   SOCIETY. 


.James  C.  Risloy,  1846-47. 
Isaac  S.  Milford,  1848-51. 
Charles  D.  Hendry,  1852-53. 
A.  Dickinson  Woodruff,  1854. 
.lohn  W.  Snowden,  1855-75. 
Othniel  H.  Taylor,  1856. 
Thomas  F.  Cullen,  1857. 
Sylvester  Birdsell,  1858. 
.lohn  V.  Sehenck,  1859-73. 
Bowman  Hendry,  1860. 
Uapoleon  B.Jennings,  1861. 
Henry  E.  Branin,  1862. 


.Tames  M.  Kidge,  1867. 
.Tonathan  J.  Comfort,  1868. 
Alexander  M.  Mecray,  1869. 
J.  Orlando  White,  1870. 
Richard  M.  Cooper,  1871-74. 
Isaac  W.  Heulings,  1872. 
Edwin  Tomlinson,  1877. 
H.  A.  M.  Smith,  1878. 
D.  Parish  Pancoast,  1879. 
C.  H.  Shivers,   1880. 
Isaac  B.  Slulfurd,  1881. 
K.  L.  B.  Godfrey,  1882. 


J.  Gilbert  Young,  1863. 
John  R.  Stevenson,  1864. 
H.  Genet  Taylor,  1865. 
Alexander  Marcy,  1866-76. 


John  R.  Haney,  1883. 
Dowling  Benjamin,  1884. 
E.  B.  Woolstou,  1885. 
W.  H.  Ireland,  1886. 


Diseases  and  theie  Remedies. — There 
is  but  little  information  concerning  thedisea.'^es 
that  prevailed  in  Camden  County  prior  to 
the  formation  of  its  Medical  Society.  The 
limited  number  of  physicians  who  practiced 
in  it  between   1 730  and   1S40    had   but  little 


9 


time  to  write  any  account  of  their  observa- 
tions and  experience,  and  still  less  opportunity 
to  publish  them.  It  is,  therefore,  from 
traditions  that  have  been  well  preserved  in 
this  section,  compared  with  the  accounts  of 
diseases  and  epidemics  in  other  parts  of  this 
and  adjacent  colonies,  that  a  knowledge  of 
them  can  be  best  obtained. 

There  is  a  widespread  belief  that  the 
climate  of  this  section  has  changed,  and  that 
diseases  now  are  very  different  from  what 
they  were  in  early  times.  A  hundred  years 
ago  the  old  were  wont  to  lament  the  change 
and  deterioration  of  the  seasons,  since  the 
days  of  their  youth,  in  the  same  strain  as  their 
descendants  do  now.  A  careful  examination 
of  weather  notes  shows  that  there  has  been 
no  climatic  variation  since  the  early  settle- 
ment of  the  county.  There  were  then,  as 
now,  cycles  of  hot  and  dry  summers,  alter- 
nating with  cool  and  moist  ones  ;  cold,  bleak 
winters  with  warm  and  wet  ones.  There  was 
the  chilly  spring  and  the  mild  autumn.  With 
the  exception  of  a  few  maladies,  like  cholera, 
that  have  been  imported  from  countries  with 
which,  in  former  times,  there  was  only  in- 
frequent and  slow  communication,  there  is 
no  evidence  that  there  are  any  diseases  now 
that  did  not  occur  in  early  days.  Their 
symptoms  and  courses  have  been  greatly 
modified  by  a  change  in  the  habits  and  cus- 
toms of  the  people,  and  by  improved  medi- 
cation and  sanitation. 

In  colonial  times  the  houses  were  nearly 
all  built  of  wood,  a  few  were  log,  but  most 
of  them  were  constructed  of  rough  sawed 
boards,  with  board  partitions,  and  'without 
plaster.  There  were  no  carpets  on  the  floor. 
The  only  mode  of  heating  them  was  by  a 
wood  fire  in  an  open  fire-place,  by  which  the 
family  sat  in  the  Arctic  cold  of  winter,  one 
side  of  the  body  alternately  chilled  and 
warmed  as  it  was  turned  to  or  from  the 
blazing  logs.  Their  clothing  was  of  ho»me- 
spun  wool  ;  only  on  ceremonial  displays  did 
the  well-to-do  wear  linen  or  silk  shirts  or 
2 


stockings.  Underclothing  was  not  worn 
until  the  present  century,  even  after  cotton 
cloth  had  been  substituted  for  woolen  stuffs. 
Overcoats  were  a  rare  luxury,  but  a  few  of 
the  wealthier  men  possessed  them.  Bangups 
they  were  called,  made  of  good  imported 
cloth";  they  were  reserved  for  state  occasions ; 
they  were  expected  to  last  a  life-time,  and 
sometimes  descended  as  an  heirloom  to  the 
son.  Rubber  over-shoes  and  clothing  were 
never  dreamed  of  until  within  the  present 
generation.  The  only  mode  of  traveling  was 
in  the  open  boat  or  on  horseback  exposed  to 
the  weather. 

Their  diet  did  not  compare  any  more 
favorably  with  that  of  modern  times  than 
did  their  clothing.  Vegetables  were  plentiful 
in  the  summer,  but  there  was  no  method  of 
preserving  the  perishable  ones  through  the 
other  nine  months  of  the  year.  Their  bread 
w^as  made  from  rye,  wheat  having  come  into 
general  use  only  within  the  last  fifty  years. 
The  staple  meats  were  salt  pork  and  ham. 
In  the  earlier  period  of  the  settlement  this 
was  relieved  by  game,  but  as  the  country 
filled  up,  it  became  scarce  and  had  a  mercan- 
tile price ;  then  it  was  sold.  Mutton  was  but 
little  eaten.  Prior  to  the  Revolution  sheep 
were  so  valuable  that  in  old  wills  bequests 
are  left  to  daughters  of  a  ewe-lamb  and 
feather-bed  in  lieu  of  any  real  estate.  After 
the  embargo  laid  upon  wool  during  the  war 
it  became  unpatriotic  and  disreputable  to  eat 
mutton,  and  this  sentiment  continued  to  pro- 
hibit its  use  long  after  the  reason  for  it  had 
been  forgotten.  It  was  only  in  the  winter 
that  they  had  fresh  meat.  When  they  wanted 
beef  they  fatted  the  oldest  and  most  worthless 
cow  on  the  farm,  and  when  cold  weather  set 
in  they  killed  it,  and  after  the  meat  had  been 
cooked  to  the  indigestibility  of  leather,  they 
ate  it  three  times  a  day  until  jiutrcfaction 
commenced.  It  is  not  surprising  that  beef 
was  not  considered  a  wholesome  food.  One 
superlative  article  of  food  they  possessed  in 
abundance,  whose  value  as  a  substitute  for 


10 


any  deficieucy  in  a  diet  is  unsurpassed,  but 
which  has  not  been  appreciated  by  either 
the  medical  profession  or  the  laity,  until 
recently.  That  was  milk.  This  was  not  a 
salable  commodity,  and  that  is,  perhaps,  the 
reason  why  it  was  considered  to  be  a  plebeian 
drink.  The  dividing  line  between  gentility 
and  common  people  was  milk.  To  have 
offered  an  invited  guest  at  the  table 
a  glass  of  it  would  have  been  an  un- 
pardonable offence.  The  family,  including 
the  children,  at  the  first  table  had  their  tea 
and  coffee  ;  the  bound  boy  at  the  second  table 
had  an  unstinted  supply  of  milk.  The  result 
was  that  a  quarter  of  a  century  afterwards 
the  bound  boy  owned  the  farm. 

Alcoholic  drinks  were  freely  used.  Apple- 
whiskey  was  in  every  one's  house.  Imported 
wines  and  brandies  purchased  by  the  wealthier 
people  were  reserved  for  special  occasions.  It 
was  customary  to  take  a  drink  of  spirits  be- 
fore breakfast  to  counteract  the  deleterious 
effects  of  fog  and  dampness.  If  a  neighbor 
was  visited,  or  the  visit  returned,  the  de- 
canter was  set  out  as  a  mark  of  hospitality. 
It  was  not  believed  that  any  excessive  labor, 
like  haying  and  harvesting,  could  be  done 
without  it.  The  jug  was  taken  to  the  mea- 
dow or  field  along  with  the  water-bucket,  and 
when  the  men  had  cut  a  number  of  swaths 
across  the  grass  or  grain,  a  halt  was  made  to 
take  a  draught  of  the  liquor.  At  social 
gatherings,  at  weddings,  at  funerals,  and  even 
at  child-births  the  flowing  bowl  was  passed 
around. 

The  contrast  between  these  early  habits 
and  customs  and  those  of  to-day  is  most 
marked.  Without  enumerating  them,  it  will 
suffice  to  state  that  a  temperance  man  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  one  who  never  got 
intoxicated ;  now  he  is  a  total  abstainer  from 
alcoholic  beverages.  Now  the  well-filled  de- 
canter is  not  only  kept  out  of  sight,  but  it  is 
banished  from  the  house.  One  township  in 
this  county  has  for  fifteen  years  prohibited 
the  sale  of  liquor  within  its  limits. 


As  might  be  expected,  inflammatory  dis- 
eases were  formerly  very  frequent,  and  their 
symptoms  violent.  Pleurisy,  bronchitis, 
pneumonia  and  rheumatism  prevailed  exten- 
sively, especially  in  years  in  which  the 
thermometric  changes  favored  their  develop- 
ment. They  were  much  oftener  fatal  than 
they  are  now.  Cholera-morbus,  dysentery 
and  diarrhoea,  which  are  rarely  fatal  now, 
then  caused  the  death  of  many.  Scarlet 
fever,  measles  and  whooping-cough,  which 
are  the  bane  of  childhood,  exhibited  the  same 
infantile  violence  as  the  diseases  of  adult  life. 
Sickness,  especially  epidemics,  as  far  back  as 
1726,  are  noted  as  having  been  sthenic  or 
asthenic,  but  there  is  no  record  of  that 
popular  word  typhoid,  as  applied  to  depressed 
forms  of  illness,  having  been  used  in  this 
county  until  1855,  when  Dr.  T.  F.  Cullen 
reported  that  malarious  diseases  had  that  year 
assumed  a  typhoid  form.  These  facts  would 
indicate  that  the  changes  in  the  mode  of  liv- 
ing of  the  people,  which  had  been  gradually 
improving  up  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  in  1848,  and  very  rapidly  since 
then,  had  produced  a  moiety  of  people  of 
weak  constitution,  who,  under  the  surround- 
ings of  earlier  days,  invariably  died  young. 

Intermittent  and  remittent  fevers  were 
common  on  the  Delaware  slope  of  the  county. 
In  1798  there  is  a  record  that  they  were 
prevalent  on  the  high  ground,  while  yellow 
bilious  fever  attacked  those  along  the  river- 
shore.  In  1823  Dr.  Charles  F.  Clarke,  of 
Woodbury,  in  his  notes,  says  that  bilious 
fevers  were  epidemic,  and  so  numerous  were 
the  case's,  that  as  he  rode  along  at  night, 
farmers  would  keep  a  light  burning  as  a 
signal  for  him  that  there  was  sickness  in  the 
house.  The  reports  made  to  the  Camden 
County  Medical  Society  state  that  malarial 
fevers  prevailed  along  the  streams  in  1848. 
After  this  little  is  said  about  them  until  1856, 
when  they  again  became  frequent,  and  con- 
tinued to  increase  until  1862,  when  they  were 
declared  to  be  epidemic.      Then  they  began 


11 


to  decline,  until  in  1867,  and  for  five  years 
afterwards,  they  had  so  diminished  that  the 
j)hysicians  congratulated  themselves  that  these 
diseases  were  finally  disappearing.  In  1873 
they  reappeared,  steadily  increasing  in  num- 
ber and  severity  until  1877,  when  they  were 
again  pronounced  to  be  epidemic ;  since  then 
they  have  been  declining,  and  at  present 
(1886)  are  quite  infrequent.  Professor  Kalm, 
reporting  to  the  Swedish  government  in  1748, 
concerning  Gloucester  (Camden  included) 
County,  says  fevers  and  agues  were  more 
common  than  any  other  disease.  In  some 
years  they  ravaged  the  whole  county,  in 
others  "  scarcely  a  single  person  was  taken 
ill." 

At  the  time  that  Kalm  wrote,  the  Atlantic 
slope  of  the  county,  called  the  "  Pines,"  was 
not  inhabited,  except  by  a  few  wood-chop- 
pers. From  the  earliest  times  this  section 
has  been  popularly  credited  with  great  ex- 
emption from  pulmonary  and  miasmatic  dis- 
eases. More  recently  Dr.  John  W.  Snowden, 
wdio  has  practiced  medicine  in  that  section 
for  forty  years,  and  who  is  the  able  chairman 
of  the  Standing  Committee  and  reporter  of 
the  Camden  County  Medical  Society,  states 
that  he  never  saw  a  case  of  intermittent  or 
remittent  fever  originate  there.  He  also 
confirms  its  reputation  for  freedom  from  pul- 
monary affections. 

Typhoid  fever  was  not  known  as  a  distinct 
disease  until  it  was  investigated  and  de- 
scribed by  Louis,  a  French  physician,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century.  There  is 
no  doubt  but  that  cases  of  it  occurred  here  so 
soon  as  the  concretions  from  filth  were  suffi- 
cient to  form  a  nidus  for  its  growth.  The 
milder  forms  of  it  were  classed  with  obsti- 
nate remittent  fever,  and  helped  to  swell  its 
mortality  list.  In  the  tradition  that  has 
come  down  to  us  of  the  dreaded  and  fatal 
nervous  fever,  as  it  was  called,  may  be  found 
a  description  of  a  severe  case  of  typhoid  fever 
where  the  cerebral  symptoms  were  promi- 
nent.    In  the  reports  of  the  medical  society 


this  disease  is  noted  as  occurring;  more  or  less 
throughout  the  county  every  year,  although 
in  some  seasons  it  is  more  frequent  than  in 
others,  especially  in  Camden.  Haddonfield 
seems  to  have  had  great  immunity  from  it, 
as  there  is  no  record  of  any  case  happening 
there  that  was  not  contracted  elsewhere. 

Typhus  fever  has  been  an  infrequent  dis- 
ease during  the  history  of  the  county. 
There  was  an  epidemic  of  it  in  Camden  in 
1812,  in  which  a  number  lost  their  lives,  but 
otherwise  that  city  has  beeu  remarkably  free 
from  it.  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry  had  some 
cases  of  it  adjacent  to  the  almshouse  at 
Blackwood.  At  this  institution  it  is  occa- 
sionally introduced  by  vagrants,  and  in  1881 
it  became  epidemic,  there  having  been  one 
hundred  and  three  cases  and  thirty-three 
deaths  from  it.  Dr.  McCullough,  one  of 
the  attending  physicians,  fell  a  victim  to  the 
disease. 

The  proximity  of  Camden  County  to  the 
port  of  Philadelphia  has  made  it  liable  to  be 
invaded  by  yellow  fever.  There  is  no  record 
of  its  having  become  located  within  the 
county  limits,  although  the  lower  end  of 
Gloucester  County,  from  which  it  was  set  off, 
has  been  charged  with  having  reproduced  it 
along  the  river-shore  in  1747  and  1798. 
There  were  epidemics  of  yellow  fever  in 
Philadelphia  in  1762;  between  the  years 
1793  and  1798  ;  between  1802  and  1805  ;  and 
in  the  years  1819  and  1820.  At  these  peri- 
ods there  were  isolated  cases  contracted  by 
visits  to  infected  districts  of  that  city.  Dur- 
ing the  epidemic  of  1853  there  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  any  deaths  from  it  in 
Camden  County.  In  1854  there  was  one 
case  of  yellow  fever  in  Camden  in  the  person 
of  a  sailor  who,  two  days  previous  to  his 
attack,  had  landed  from  a  steamer  sixty  hours 
from  Savannah,  Ga. 

The  insidious  and  obscure  diseases  of  the 
kidneys  observed  and  described  by  Dr. 
Bright,  of  England,  in  1828,  and  after  whom 
they  are  named,  were  not  diagno.sed  by  phy- 


12 


sicians  until  chemistry  and  microscopy  had 
advanced  to  such  a  state  of  progress  as  to 
offer  the  only  means  of  detecting  them.  The 
first  application  of  these  sciences  in  Camden 
County  for  this  purpose  was  made  by  a  mem- 
ber of  its  Medical  Society  in  1865.  Since 
that  date  Bright's  disease  is  known  to  be  the 
cause  of  a  limited  number  of  deaths  here  an- 
nually. Fatal  results  from  some  formerly 
obscure  cases  of  dropsy  are  now  known  to  be 
caused  by  this  disease.  There  are  some  fam- 
ilies who  have  noticed  that  for  two  or  three 
generations  a  number  of  their  members  have 
died  of  dropsy.  Some  of  these  deaths  within 
the  last  twenty  years  have  been  the  sequelae 
of  Bright's  disease.  The  inference  is,  there- 
fore, that  the  dropsy  of  former  generations 
was  produced  by  the  same  cause,  and  that, 
to  a  limited  extent,  Bright's  disease  is  heredi- 
tary. 

In  1735-36  a  terrible  epidemic  swept  over 
the  colonies,  called  the  "  throat  distemper." 
In  the  accounts  of  it  that  have  come  down  to 
us,  and  in  the  traditions  of  a  not  infrequent 
disease  called,  in  this  county,  "  putrid  sore 
throat,"  may  be  discerned  the  modern  diph- 
theria. Under  the  latter  name  the  malady 
is  but  little  mentioned  in  the  records  of  the 
Medical  Society  until  1862,  when  Dr.  Cullen 
reported  that  it  had  been  seen  occasionally 
during  the  year,  but  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  it  had  ever  been  epidemic  in  Camden 
City.  Since  that  date  it  has  appeared  more 
or  less  every  year  throughout  the  county,  but 
not  to  any  great  extent. 

Small  pox  was  a  much  dreaded  disease  in 
colonial  times.  The  introduction  of  inocula- 
tion here,  about  1750,  robbed  it  of  some  of 
its  terrors,  and  the  discovery  of  vaccination, 
by  Jenner,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
made  it  still  more  harmless.  Yet  it  still 
lingers,  and  at  times  becomes  epidemic.  The 
Camden  County  Medical  Society  reported  it 
to  be  so  in  Camden  City  in  1856, 1864, 1871 
and  1880.  In  the  latter  year  there  were  six 
hundred    and   eighty-eight    cases   and    one 


hundred  and  thirty-four  deaths  from  it.  The 
number  of  gratuitous  vaccinations  made  to 
check  the  disease  was  about  eight  thousand. 

Asiatic  cholera  is  an  imported  disease  in- 
digenous to  Southern  Asia.  Its  first  appear- 
ance in  Camden  County  was  in  1832.  The 
accounts  of  its  ravages  then  are  very  meagre. 
Dr.  Isaac  S.  Mulford,  writing  in  1855,  says 
that  it  was  not  so  violent  as  were  the  subse- 
quent epidemics  of  1849  and  1854,  all  of 
which  he  witnessed.  He  also  says  that  in  the 
first-named  year  it  possessed  a  sthenic  char- 
acter. Among  the  papers  of  the  late  Dr. 
Charles  F.  Clarke,  of  Woodbury,  is  one 
stating  that  the  people  were  greatly  afraid  of 
it,  believing  it  to  be  contagious,  and  that  he 
had  helped  to  bury  the  bodies  of  the  dead, 
which  the  people  in  their  terror  had  thrown 
upon  the  river-shore. 

Its  second  appearance  was  in  1849,  the 
first  case  occurring  in  Camden  in  the  middle 
of  June.  At  that  time  the  city  had  a  popu- 
lation of  nine  thousand  people,  many  of 
whom  fled  ;  yet  between  its  advent  and  the 
commencement  of  cold  weather,  when  it 
ceased,  there  were  one  hundred  and  nineteen 
cases  and  fifty  deaths.  In  Winslow  there 
were  a  number  of  deaths  from  cholera,  but 
no  account  of  them  has  been  preserved. 
There  were  also  a  few  isolated  cases  in  the 
other  townships.  Camden  was  next  visited 
by  this  disease  in  1854,  when  the  first  person 
attacked  died  from  it  on  June  25th.  It  did 
not  assume  an  epidemic  form  until  October, 
and  ceased  on  November  23d.  In  this  year 
there  were  ninety-four  cases  and  fifty-seven 
deaths.  During  its  continuance  the  Camden 
City  Medical  Society  held  several  special 
meetings  to  consult  about  it,  and  the  mem- 
bers exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to 
check  its  ravages.  In  Haddonfield  there  was 
a  single  case  that  had  been  contracted  in 
Camden.  The  susceptibility  of  the  latter 
city  to  become  a  cholera  centre,  the  virulence 
and  the  fatality  of  the  scourge  there,  gave  it  a 
reputation  for  unhealthfulness  that  seriously 


13 


checked  its  growth,  so  that  between  1849  and 
1866  its  population  only  increased  from  nine 
thousand  to  eighteen  thousand. 

When  it  was  reported,  in  1865,  that 
cholera  was  approaching  the  United  States, 
the  Camden  City  Medical  Society,  alert  to  the 
dangers  to  be  apprehended  from  another 
visitation,  at  their  stated  meeting  held  Sep- 
tember 7th  of  that  year,  appointed  Drs.  John 
R.  Stevenson,  Isaac  S.  Mulford,  Alexander 
Marcy  and  Thomas  F.  CuUen  a  committee 
to  adopt  measures  to  prevent  an  anticipated 
invasion  of  cholera.  Their  final  report  states 
that  upon  inspection  they  found  Camden  to 
be  as  filthy  as  any  city  of  its  size  in  the 
Union.  The  drainage  was  superficial  and 
imperfect;  garbage  and  coal  ashes  were 
thrown  into  the  streets,  but  few  of  which 
were  paved  ;  the  cesspools,  shallow  in  depth, 
were  in  many  places  overflowing  upon  the 
ground,  and  pig  sties  had  been  allowed  to  be 
erected  in  the  yards  of  the  poorer  classes. 
The  committee  consulted  with  the  City 
Council,  who  courteously  received  their  sug- 
gestions, and  through  their  sanitary  commit- 
tee, of  which  John  S.  Lee  was  chairman  and 
Colonel  Joseph  C.  Nichols  the  efficient  execu- 
tive officer,  put  in  force  the  ordinances  which 
were  plenary.  Before  the  summer  of  1866 
they  had  cleansed  the  city  and  abated  all 
nuisances.  In  this  year  the  first  case  of 
cholera  occurred  on  June  25th,  when  the 
city  authorities,  having  previously  provided 
a  stock  of  disinfectants,  as  recommended  by 
the  medical  committee,  virtually  transferred 
the  direction  of  sanitary  measures  to  the 
latter,  who  investigated  each  case  of  the  dis- 
ease, and  had  the  premises  and  clothing  of 
the  sick  promptly  disinfected.  There  were 
in  this  year  thirty-nine  cases  of  cholera  and 
thirty  deaths.  It  did  not  become  epidemic* 
as  it  only  became  located  in  two  places,  in 
both  of  which  it  was  stamped  out  within 
thirty-six  hours.  Just  beyond  the  city  limits, 
in  Newton  township,  there  were  twenty-seven 
cases,    and   twenty-five   deaths   in   a    negro 


hamlet.  With  the  exception  of  one  at 
Winslow,  there  were  no  others  in  Camden 
County.  In  the  year  1873  there  were  three 
reported  instances  of  cholera  in  Camden 
City,  and  in  one  person  it  proved  fatal. 

The  experience  of  1866  in  Camden  and 
elsewhere  demonstrated  the  po\ver  and  effi- 
ciency of  well-directed  sanitary  measures  in 
preventing  the  spread  of  infectious  and  con- 
tagious diseases,  and  subsequent  observation 
confirmed  it. 

In  the  year  1880  the  Legislature  of  New 
Jersey  passed  an  act  creating  a  State  Board 
of  Health  of  nine  members,  which  enact- 
ment provided  that  every  city,  town  or 
borough  shall  have  a  Board  of  Health  of  not 
less  than  five  nor  more  than  seven  members, 
of  which  the  recorder  of  vital  statistics,  one 
city  physician  and  the  city  health  inspector 
shall  be  members.  In  each  township,  the 
township  committee,  the  assessor  and  town- 
ship physician  compose  the  Board  of  Health. 
Any  city,  borough  or  township  which  had  a 
local  Board  of  Health  at  the  time  of  the 
passage  of  this  act  was  exempt  from  its  pro- 
visions. Camden  was  one  of  those  exempted 
and  did  not  accept  the  provisions  of  the 
health  law  until  1885.  During  the  years 
1884  and  1885,  Dr.  O.  B.  Gross  acted  as 
special  inspector  of  that  city  for  the  State 
Board  of  Health.- 

The  use  of  herbs  as  remedies  has  already 
been  described.  Cider,  although  a  beverage, 
may  be  classed  as  a  medicine.  In  former 
times  it  was  drank  hot  at  night  as  a  cure  for 
colds.  The  ground  Jesuit's  bark  was  mixed 
in  it  to  make  the  dose  more  palatable,  and  it 
had  the  popular  reputation  of  being  "good 
for  the  liver."  Every  large  farmer  had  his 
cider-mill,  where  he  made  his  own  cider,  and 
which  he  loaned  for  the  use  of  his  less  fortu  • 
nate  neiglibors.  Scattered  at  convenient 
points  throughout  the  district  were  farmers 
who  added  a  still  to  their  eider-mill,  and  who 
distilled  tlie  cider  of  their  friends  into  apple 
whiskey  on  shares.    At  the  present  time  there 


14 


are  only  a  few  cider-presses,  and  but  two 
whiskey  stills  in  the  county.  One  still  is 
owned  by  Joshua  Peacock,  near  Haddonfield ; 
the  other  by  Hugh  Sharp,  adjacent  toMarlton. 
An  early  industry  was  the  distillation  of  the 
essential  oils  of  sassafras,  pennyroyal,  horse- 
mint,  winter-green,  spearmint,  etc.,  from 
indigenous  plants  that  were  once  very  abun- 
dant. Their  product  was  sold  locally  for 
use  as  liniments  and  rubefacients,  and  the 
surplus  sent  to  the  Philadelphia  market. 
These  oil-stills  gradually  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  negroes.  Between  1840  and  1850 
one  was  operated  in  Jordantowu  by  a  colored 
man,  Stephen  Polk,  and  by  his  son  Elzey. 
The  last  one  in  the  county  was  owned  by  a 
colored  man  styled  '*Dr.  Thomas,"  residing 
near  Marlton.  This  was  abandoned  about 
twenty  years  ago. 

About  the  year  1822,  Nathan  Willets  be- 
gan the  cultivation  of  the  castor  bean  on  the 
farm  where  he  resided,  on  the  Haddonfield 
and  Clements  Bridge  road,  two  miles  from 
Haddonfield.  He  also  prepared  the  oil  for 
market.  He  continued  the  business  for 
some  twenty  years. 

Until  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
physicians  made  their  visits  on  horseback 
with  a  saddle-bag  attached  to  it,  in  which 
were  carried  their  medicines  and  the  few  in- 
struments they  used.  They  prepared  their 
own  pills  and  potions.  Among  their  prep- 
arations Avere  those  of  mercury,  a  very  an- 
cient remedy,  which  had  been  always  in  mod- 
erate use.  Calomel  came  into  repute  in 
1736  as  an  application  for  the  throat  dis- 
temper, but  mercurials  were  not  pushed  to 
salivation  until  within  the  present  century. 
This  mode  of  medication  continued  up  to 
1850.  Since  then  mercury  has  fallen  into 
disuse  by  the  medical  profession,  but  when 
the  great  increase  in  the  consumption  of  offic- 
inal and  patent  pills,  most  of  which  contain 
some  compound  of  this  metal,  is  taken  into 
consideration,  it  is  doubtfid  if  any  less  of  it 
is  taken  by  the  people  now  than  formerly, 


only    the     manner    of    administration    has 
changed. 

Venesection  began  to  be  employed  about 
1750  and  became  so  popular  with  physicians 
that  it  was  employed  in  all  cases,  the  lancet 
being  their  invariable  accompaniment.  Now, 
so  completely  has  it  fallen  into  discredit  that 
but  few  of  the  present  members  of  the  Cam- 
den County  Medical  Society  have  ever  bled 
a  patient. 

Boerhaave,  elected  professor  at  Leyden  in 
1701,  announced  the  doctrine  that  all  dis- 
eases were  the  result  of  humors  in  the  blood. 
This  was  accepted  by  physicians  everywhere, 
who,  in  accordance  with  it,  prohibited  the  use 
of  cold  drinks  in  sickness,  but  made  their 
patients  drink  hot  teas,  keep  the  window 
closed  to  prevent  the  ingress  of  fresh  air, 
and  plied  them  with  bed-covers  to  induce 
perspiration.  There  are  old  residents  here 
who  well  remember  the  discomforts  and  mis- 
ery of  such  treatment. 

A  few  of  the  best-known  old  standard 
drugs  and  some  popular  nostrums  were  early 
sold  by  the  country  merchants.  They  are  at 
this  day  to  be  found  in  the  stock  of  the 
cross-roads  stores  in  this  section.  The  first 
drug  store  in  Camden  County  was  opened 
by  Thomas  Redman  in  November,  1735. 
He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Thomas  Redman,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  was  born  March  31,  1714. 
He  was  educated  an  apothecary,  and,  having 
removed  to  Haddonfield,  commenced  busi- 
ness where  now  stands  the  dwelling  of  the 
late  Samuel  C.  Smith.  In  addition  to  drugs 
he  kept  other  merchandise,  but  the  former 
was  a  special  department,  where  prescriptions 
were  compounded.  This  business  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  preparation  of  medicines 
was  transmitted  to  his  son  and  grandson, 
who  continued  the  same  occupation  in  the 
same  place  until  1846.  Charles  S.  Braddock, 
a  graduate  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy  in  the  class  of  1851,  opened  the 
first  store  in  Haddonfield  for  the  exclusive 
sale  of  drugs  in  the  year  1853.     This  is  still 


15 


continued  by  his  son.  R.  Willard  is  the 
proprietor  of  the  other  store  in  this  town. 

In  Camden,  Dr.  Samuel  Harris,  in  1811, 
sold  some  medicines  from  his  office.  Be- 
tween the  years  1812  and  1821,  Freedom  L. 
Shinn  kept  a  drug  store  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  Second  and  Plum  (Arch)  Streets. 
After  that  there  was  no  place  other  than  at 
Dr.  Harris'  office  where  medicines  could  be 
purchased  until  1832,  when  Dr.  Sickler 
opened  a  drug  store  on  Federal  Street  near 
the  ferry.  According  to  charges  on  his 
books,  opium  was  worth  fifty  cents  an  ounce, 
and  seven  and  one-half  ounces  of  essence  of 
peppermint  eighty-seven  and  one-half  cents. 
He  also  sold  paints  and  oils.  Paint  oil  was 
worth  one  dollar  and  ten  cents  per  gallon ; 
putty  seven  cents  a  pound,  and  a  light  of 
glass,  ten  by  twelve,  cost  seven  cents.  This 
store  was  discontinued  in  1834.  In  the  lat- 
ter year  Drs.  Joseph  Kain  and  David  Smith 
started  a  store  of  the  same  kind  at  the  north- 
east corner  of  Third  and  Plum  (Arch) 
Streets.  Early  in  the  year  1835,  Dr.  Smith 
retired  and  moved  away.  Shortly  afterwards, 
in  March  of  the  same  year,  James  Roberts, 
of  Philadelphia,  purchased  the  store  from 
Dr.  Smith,  and  six  months  subsequently  sold 
it  to  Joseph  C  Delacour,  who  still  continues 
the  business,  but  he  has  removed  his  estab- 
lishment to  the  southwest  corner  of  the  same 
streets.  The  medical  directory  for  1885 
enumerates  thirty-six  druggists  in  Camden. 

About  the  year  1855,  Thomas  Hallam 
added  a  drug  department  to  his  store  in 
Gloucester  City,  where  he  compounded  phy- 
sicians' prescriptions.  This  was  the  com- 
mencement of  the  apothecary  business  in 
that  place,  in  which,  at  present,  there  are  five 
pharmacies.  One  was  opened  in  Merchant- 
ville  in  1881  by  C.  H.  Jennings,  and  another 
in  Blackwood  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Hurff  in  1884. 

Camden  City  Medical  Society. — The 
Camden  City  Medical  Society  was  organized 
in  the  city  of  Camden,  June  21,  1853,  by 
Drs.  L.  F.  Fisler,  I.  S.  Mulford,  O.  H.Tay- 


lor, S.  Birdsell,  T.  F.  Cullen  and  J.  V. 
Schenck.  At  this  meeting  a  committee  of 
three,  consisting  of  Drs.  O.  H.  Taylor,  Bird- 
sell  and  Fisler,  was  appointed  to  draught  a 
suitable  constitution  and  by-laws.  This 
meeting  then  adjourned  to  the  16th  instant, 
when  a  constitution  and  by-la  ws  were  adopted 
and  an  organization  effected  by  the  election 
of  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Mulford,  president ;  Dr.  L.  F. 
Fisler,  vice-president ;  Dr.  J.  V.  Schenck, 
secretary  and  treasurer;  and  a  standing  com- 
mittee composed  of  Drs.  Cooper,  Birdsell  and 
Cullen.  The  officers  are  elected  yearly,  at 
the  annual  meeting  in  September. 

The  society  is  in  effect,  although  not  in 
fact,  a  subdivision  of  the  County  Society, 
composed  of  those  members  of  the  latter  who 
practice  medicine  in  the  city  of  Camden.  In 
the  list  of  its  members  from  the  organization 
to  the  present  time  there  are  but  seven  who 
were  not  members  of  the  other  society.  Their 
names  are, — 


'Dateof  Eleo. 


Where  gradu-    !  Rg,„^,rks. 

ated.  I 


Lorenzo  F.  Fisler 'June  16, 1853  Univ.  of  PennajDied    1871 

Jesse  S.  Z.  Sellers Sept.    7, 1854:IUniv.  of  Penna.lDied 

Keyuell  Coates Dec.    5,  18G7iUniv.  of  Penua.  Died    188G 

D.  N.Mahone  (honorary).  Sept.   3,186SlUniv.  of  Peniia.  Ues'd  1SG8 

Charles F.  Clarke June  3.1S69;ruiv.  of  Peuna.  Died    1875 

William  G.  Tavlor Mar.  4,  1ST5  Jeff.   3Ied.     Col.  Died    1877 

Charles  A.  Baker iMar.  2,  187o'jeff.    Med.     Col.  Removed 


It  meets  quarterly,  in  the  evening,  gener- 
ally at  the  house  of  one  its  members,  but 
since  the  establishment  of  the  Dispensary  it 
occasionally  meets  there.  Its  meetings  have 
never  been  discontinued,  but  sometimes  have 
lapsed  for  want  of  a  quorum.  It  has  a  super- 
vision over  all  medical  matters  that  belong 
exclusively  to  Camden  City,  and  which  are 
not  of  special  interest  to  the  townships  out- 
side of  it.  Reports  made  to  it  of  the  health 
of  the  city,  of  epidemics,  of  medical  and  other 
cases  of  special  importance,  are  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  standing  committee  of  the 
County  Medical  Society.  Therefore,  the 
transactions  of  the  City  Society,  as  far  as  re- 
lates to  disease  and  its  treatment,  have  already 
been  given  in  the  history  of  the  former  society. 


16 


Formerly  a  subject  of  frequent  discussion 
in  their  meetings  was  the  fee-bill  or  the  rates 
to  be  charged  for  professional  visits  and  cases 
of  surgical  injuries,  it  being  desirable  that  a 
uniform  price  should  be  fixed  upon  by  all  its 
members  for  similar  attendance  upon  the 
sick. 

The  City  Medical  Society  has  always  taken 
an  active  interest  in  all  public  measures  that 
concerned  the  health  or  bodily  welfare  of  the 
citizens  of  Camden.  In  1857,  at  the  request 
of  the  Philadelphia  Board  of  Health,  it  ap- 
pointed delegates  to  meet  in  that  city  with 
those  of  similar  societies  on  May  ISth,  for 
conference  in  relation  to  the  establishment  of 
a  uniform  system  of  quarantine  laws.  In 
the  succeeding  year  another  delegation  was 
elected  to  attend  a  like  convention  in  Balti- 
more. 

At  the  meeting  held  July  3,  1858,  a  com- 
mittee composed  of  Drs.  Mulford,  O.  H. 
Taylor  and  Cullen  was  appointed  to  investi- 
gate and  report  upon  the  filthy  condition  of 
the  hydrant  water.  The  paper  which  they 
prepared  condemned  the  management  of  the 
water -works.  It  was  read  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  society,  and  a  synopsis  of  it  was 
sent  to  the  Public  Ledger  and  to  the  directors 
of  the  company  who  then  controlled  the 
water  supply  of  Camden. 

In  1859  a  resolution  was  introduced  into 
the  society  looking  to  the  establishment  of  a 
Dispensary  in  Camden.  This  will  be  more 
fully  described  in  the  history  of  that  institu- 
tion. In  1865  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
recommend  measures  for  the  prevention  of 
an  invasion  of  the  city  by  cholera,  an  account 
of  whose  work  is  given  in  the  sketch  of 
cholera  in  Camden.  This  committee,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  duty  assigned  to  it,  was,  at  a 
meeting  held  August  9,  1866,  requested  to 
make  inquiry  as  to  the  mode  of  registering 
deaths  in  Philadelphia,  which  having  been 
done,  the  plan  was  recommended  to  City 
Council,  with  the  request  that  they  pass  a 
similar  ordinance. 


At  the  meeting  held  March  4,  1876,  the 
family  of  the  late  Dr.  Richard  M.  Cooper 
presented  his  library  of  medical  works  to  the 
Camden  City  Medical  Society.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  prepare  an  appropriate  place 
for  it,  and  to  arrange  a  catalogue  of  it.  The 
Dispensary  was  selected  as  a  suitable  building 
in  which  to  deposit  it. 

There  never  had  been  any  coroner's  physi- 
cian for  Camden  County.  In  case  of  sudden 
death,  where  the  coroner  desired  an  investiga- 
tion of  its  cause  by  a  physician,  he  could  call 
upon  any  one  convenient  to  the  inquest.  The 
doctor's  services  were  paid  for  in  each  indi- 
vidual case.  There  having  arisen  some  dis- 
pute between  the  officials  and  the  members  of 
the  Camden  County  Medical  Society  as  to 
the  value  of  the  services  rendered,  a  fee-bill 
was  drawn  up  by  the  society  and  laid  before 
the  proper  authorities.  At  the  meeting  held 
December  2,  1869,  Dr.  Thomas  F.  Cullen 
moved,  '^  That  members  of  the  Camden  City 
Society  refuse  to  make  or  assist  at  any  post- 
mortem examination  as  directed  by  the  cor- 
oner or  coroners  of  Camden  County,  or  by  any 
court  or  courts  of  said  county,  until  the  fee- 
bill  as  already  presented  to  the  Board  of 
Chosen  Freeholders,  as  agreed  upon  by  this 
society,  shall  be  accepted  and  agreed  upon  by 
them,  and  the  Board  of  Chosen  Freeholders 
be  notified  by  the  secretary  of  this  society  of 
the  same."  This  resolution  was  adopted  and 
copies  were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  the  Board 
of  Freeholders  and  to  the  managers  of  the 
Dispensary. 

By  this  time  it  became  apparent  that  the 
growth  of  population,  with  its  increasing 
wants,  demanded  a  physician  clothed  with  the 
proper  authority,  and  sufficiently  remunerated 
to  take  charge  of  the  physical  interests  of  the 
public  departments.  The  society  having 
this  object  in  view,  at  its  meeting  in  March, 
1874,  adopted  a  motion,  made  by  Dr.  James 
M,  Ridge,  that  a  committee  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  "  confer  with  the  relief  committee 
of  City  Council  upon  the  appointment  of  a 


17 


city  physician."  The  result  of  these  repeated 
efforts  of  the  profession  to  arouse  the  atten- 
tion of  the  officials  to  the  needs  of  the  com- 
munity was  the  appointment  of  a  county 
physician. 

The  Legislature  of  New  Jersey,  by  an  act 
approved  April  21,  1876,  created  the  office 
of  county  physician.  The  laws  thus  enacted 
and  in  force  give  the  county  physician  pre- 
cedence and  authority  in  all  coroner's  cases 
until  he  has  given  orders  for  a  view  or  in- 
quest to  a  coroner  or  justice  of  the  peace. 
He  is  obliged  to  assume  the  responsibility  of 
all  coroner's  work.  Besides  this,  he  furnishes 
medical  attendance  and  gives  medicines  to 
the  inmates  of  the  county  jail.  His  salary 
is  eight  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  in  lieu 
of  all  fees. 

Dr.  Randall  W.  Morgan  was  county 
physician  from  1876  to  1881  ;  Dr.  Wm.  H. 
Ireland,  from  1881  to  1884;  and  Dr.  Gross, 
the  present  incumbent,  since  the  latter  date. 

Pexsiox  Board. — In  June,  1884,  a 
United  States  Pension  Board  of  Examining 
Surgeons  was  established  in  Camden.  It  is 
one  of  three  assigned  to  New  Jersey,  the 
other  two  being  respectively  at  Newark  and 
Trenton.  It  was  composed  as  follows,  viz.: 
Dr.  H.  Genet  Taylor,  president ;  Dr.  James 
A.  Armstrong,  treasurer ;  Dr.  Onan  B. 
Gross,  secretary.  Upon  the  change  of  ad- 
ministration of  the  government,  the  board 
was  reorganized  in  July,  1885,  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Dr.  James  M.  Ridge,  president ; 
Dr.  John  W.  Donges,  treasurer;  and  Dr. 
Onan  B.  Gross,  secretary.  The  board  meets 
every  Wednesday  at  the  Dispensary  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  applications  for  pen- 
sions. 

Camden  City  Dispensary. — The  first 
movement  towards  establishing  a  Dispensary 
in  Camden  was  made  in  1859.  Dr.  O.  H. 
Taylor,  when  a  young  graduate  in  medicine, 
had  been  a  visiting  physician  for  the  Phila- 
delphia Dispensary,  and  was  impressed  with 
the  usefulness  and  the  beneficent  charity  of 


such  an  institution  in  a  young  city.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Camden  City  Medical  Society 
held  March  3d,  in  that  year,  he  brought  to 
its  attention  the  propriety  of  petitioning  City 
Council  for  the  establishment  of  a  Dispensary. 
This  was  discussed  and  laid  over  until  the 
next  meeting,  on  June  2d,  when  a  committee 
of  three,  composed  of  Drs.  O.  H.  Taylor,  R. 
M.  Cooper  and  L.  F.  Fisler,  was  appointed 
"  to  frame  a  memorial  to  the  City  Council  of 
Camden,  in  order  to  co-operate  with  the  City 
Medical  Society  in  the  establishment  of  a  City 
Dispensary."  At  the  December  meeting  the 
committee  read  a  report,  and  after  considera- 
ble debate  in  regard  to  the  encouragement 
likely  to  be  extended  by  those  appealed  to  for 
aid,  the  subject  was  indefinitely  postponed. 

After  the  call  of  President  Lincoln  for 
three  hundred  thousand  men  was  made,  De- 
cember 19,  1864,  it  became  evident  that 
another  conscription  for  troops  would  be  en- 
forced in  Camden.  A  number  of  men  formed  an 
association  called  "  The  North  Ward  Bounty 
Association,"  to  insure  such  of  its  members 
as  might  be  drafted  against  enforced  mili- 
tary duty,  by  paying  a  bounty  to  volunteers 
to  fill  the  places  of  those  whose  names  might 
be  drawn  from  the  wheel.  The  drawing 
had  been  made  in  Camden,  and  part  of  its 
quota  had  been  filled,  when  the  surrender  of 
Lee  at  Appomattox  closed  the  war  and 
stopped  recruiting.  During  this  month  the 
members  of  the  North  Ward  Bounty  Associ- 
ation held  a  meeting  and  passed  a  resolution 
appropriating  the  sum  left  in  the  hands  of 
Thomas  IMcKean,  treasurer,  amounting  to 
$3956.96,  to  charitable  purposes.  After 
consultation  with  Dr.  Taylor  and  other 
members  of  the  City  Medical  Society,  Mr. 
McKean  determined,  with  the  committee 
of  the  association,  to  appropriate  it  toward 
the  founding  of  a  Dispensary.  He  and 
Samuel  B.  Garrison  were  selected  as  a  com- 
mittee to  make  inquiries  as  to  the  manner 
and  practicability  of  establishing  the  same.  On 
May  4,  1865,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Med- 


18 


ical  Society  was  convened  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  "  action  in  reference  to  a  resolution 
passed  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  North  Ward 
Bounty  Association,  devoting  funds  on  hand 
to  the  establishment  of  a  Dispensary  in  the 
City  of  Camden."  A  committee  was  then 
appointed  to  confer  with  the  above-named 
gentlemen,  consisting  of  Drs.  O.  H.  Taylor, 
Fisler,  Cooper,  Schenck  and  Cullen. 

Subsequently  a  minority  of  the  members  of 
the  Bounty  Fund  Association  became  dissat- 
isfied with  the  disposition  that  had  been 
made  of  the  funds,  and  they  held  a  meeting 
on  May  24, 1865,  and  passed  a  resolution, ad- 
dressed to  Messrs.  McKean  and  Garrison,  to 
distribute  the  money  among  the  "contributors 
and  drafted  men."  This  action  caused  some 
litigation,  which  was  decided  by  the  court  in 
favor  of  the  Dispensary.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  society  held  in  December  of  the  same  year 
the  committee  on  Dispensary  reported  that 
negotiations  were  in  progress  for  the  purchase 
of  the  Perseverance  Hose-House,  and  that  a 
gentleman  had  purchased  twelve  cots,  which 
he  designed  presenting  to  the  institution.  At 
the  next  meeting,  in  March,  1866,  it  was 
reported  that  the  hose-house  on  Third  Street, 
below  Market,  had  been  purchased,  and  that 
a  room  was  being  fitted  up  for  the  meetings 
of  the  society,  and  that  A.  Browning,  Esq., 
had  offered  his  services  gratuitously  for  pro- 
curing a  charter  for  a  corporate  body.  The 
committee  w^ere  instructed  to  organize  the 
Dispensary  in  conjunction  with  such  citizens 
as  may  be  appointed  to  act  with  them,  and 
the  plan  of  organization  drawn  up  by  the 
society  in  1859  was  reported  and  accepted. 
Subscription  books  were  ordered  to  be  pre- 
pared for  each  member,  for  druggists  and 
other  citizens.  On  March  1 7th  the  keys  of  the 
Dispensary  were  handed  to  the  society,  with 
the  request  that  it  should  carry  on  the  insti- 
tution until  a  charter  could  be  obtained  from 
the  next  Legislature  authorizing  a  board  of 
mauasers.  On  March  21st  the  following 
visiting  physicians   were  appointed  :  North 


Ward,  Dr.  H.  Genet  Taylor  ;  Middle  Ward, 
Dr.  John  R.  Stevenson  ;  and  South  AVard,  Dr. 
A.  Marcy.  O.  G.  Taylor  was  elected  druggist 
and  superintendent.  The  consulting  physi- 
cians, who  were  appointed  at  the  next  stated 
meeting  in  June,  were  Drs.  R.  M.  Cooper,  L. 
F.  Fisler  and  Thomas  F.  Cullen. 

The  Dispensary  was  opened  immediately 
and  managed  by  the  medical  committee  until 
the  procurement  of  the  charter,  approved 
February  5,  1867,  in  wdiich  Drs.  Isaac  S. 
Mulford,  O.  H.  Taylor,  Richard  M.  Cooper, 
Lorenzo  F.  Fisler,  Thomas  F.  Cullen,  John 
V.  Schenck,  William  S.  Bishop,  Bowman 
Hendry,  James  M.  Ridge,  H.  Genet  Taylor 
and  John  R.  Stevenson  were  named  as  cor- 
porators. Under  this  charter  an  organization 
was  effected  March  7,  1867,  by  the  election 
of  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Mulford,  president ;  Dr.  L.  F. 
Fisler,  vice-president ;  Dr.  J.  R.  Stevenson, 
secretary ;  and  Dr.  R.  M.  Cooper,  treasurer. 
On  the  1 2th  .  of  December  of  the  same  year 
the  Perseverance  Hose-House  was  conveyed 
to  the  corporation,  the  consideration  being 
two  thousand  dollars.  The  first  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  corporators  and  contributors,  as  pro- 
vided by  the  constitution  and  by-laws  which 
had  been  adopted  the  18th  of  April  of  the  year 
previous,  was  held  January  14, 1868,  at  which 
it  was  reported  that  the  net  amount  received 
from  the  draft  fund  had  been  $3776.94,  of 
which  $2128.03  had  been  expended,  leaving 
a  balance  on  hand  of  $1648.91.  Since  the 
opening  of  the  institution  the  cash  contri- 
butions were  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  dollars,  besides  donations  of 
various  articles  to  the  value  of  sixty  dol- 
lars. Of  this  there  was  a  balance  of  $3.33 
on  hand.  The  total  number  of  patients  pre- 
scribed for  had  been  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
two,  and  the  total  number  of  prescriptions 
compounded,  two  tliousand  and  twenty-three. 
On  the  21st  of  January  the  reorganization  of 
the  Dispensary  under  the  new  charter  took 
place,  at  which  Drs.  Thomas  F.  Cullen  was 
elected  president ;    John   V.   Schenck,  vice- 


19 


president ;  R.  M.  Cooper,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. Dr.  Culleu  served  as  president  until 
1870,  when  Thomas  A.  Wilson  was  elected. 
He  was  succeeded  in  1874  by  John  Morgan, 
who  continued   in   office   until  his  death,  in 

1881.  The  next  president  was  Thomas  Mc- 
Keen,  who  died  in  1884,  when  Dr.  Alexan- 
dei"  Marcy,  the  present  incumbent,  was  elected 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  Dr.  John  V.  Schenck 
continued  to  be  vice-president  until  his  death, 
in  1883,  when  Dr.  Alexander  Marcy  became 
vice-president,  who,  upon  his  election  to  be 
president  in  1884,  was  succeeded  by  the  pres- 
ent official,  Maurice  Browning.  Upon  the 
resignation  and  removal  from  the  city  of  the 
secretary.  Dr.  John  R.  Stevenson,  in  1867, 
Dr.  E,.  M.  Cooper  was  appointed  to  the  va- 
cancy, holding  the  combined  office  of  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  until  his  death,  in  1874, 
when  Dr.  H.  Genet  Taylor  was  elected  secre- 
tary, a  position  he  still  holds,  and  Joseph  B. 
Cooper   became   treasurer,    but   resigned    in 

1882.  The  present  treasurer,  R.  H.  Reeve, 
succeeded  him.  O.  G.  Taylor,  the  druggist 
and  superintendent,  elected  March  21,  1865, 
served  continuously  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
during  which  time  he  never  made  a  mistake. 
His  health  failing,  so  that  he  was  unable  to 
perform  his  duties,  he  resigned  January  10, 
1886,  and  died  shortly  afterwards  in  the  same 
year.     Dr.  H.  F.  Palm  now  fills  the  post. 

In  the  year  1868  City  Council  appropri- 
ated three  hundred  dollars  a  year  to  the  Dis- 
pensary, in  consideration  of  the  services  it 
rendered  to  the  poor  of  the  city.  This  ap- 
propriation continued  until  the  year  1879, 
when  an  ordinance  was  passed  authorizing 
its  sanitary  committee  to  divide  the  city  into 
three  districts  and  make  a  contract  with  the 
board  of  managers  of  the  Dispensary  to  fur- 
nish medical  attendance  and  medicines  to  the 
poor  of  the  city  for  the  sum  of  sixteen  hun- 
dred dollars  per  annum.  This  agreement 
was  ratified  on  June  1st  of  that  year,  and 
the  following  physicians  were  elected  by  the 
board  of  managers,  viz.:  For  the  First  District, 


Dr.  O.  B.  Gross ;  Second  District,  Dr.  C.  M^ 
Schellinger ;  Third  District,  Dr.  M.  West— 
with  a  salary  of  two  hundred  dollars  a  year 
for  each.  Prior  to  this  time  all  the  physi- 
cians who  had  attended  to  the  Dispensary  had 
given  their  services  gratuitously.  The  younger 
members  of  the  society  had  each,  in  their 
turn,  filled  these  positions,  serving  until  a 
new  member — usually  a  young  graduate  in 
medicine — would  relieve  them  from  this  duty. 
These  physicians  had  been  elected  by  the  City 
Medical  Society  and  were  accountable  to  it, 
but  when  the  officers  became  salaried,  then 
their  selection  was  transferred  to  the  board  of 
managers  of  the  Dispensary.  This  contract 
with  the  city  was  renewed  annually  at  the 
same  price,  until  1885,  when  the  latter  opened 
it  to  the  lowest  bidder.  The  board  offi}red  to- 
renew  it  at  sixteen  hundred  dollars,  which 
was  not  accepted ;  consequently  the  election 
of  the  district  physicians  was  abandoned,  and 
the  Medical  Society  again  resumed  its  free 
attendance. 

When  the  Dispensary  building  was  fitted 
up,  the  first  floor  was  divided  into  two  rooms, 
the  front  one  being  used  as  a  pharmacy  and 
the  rear  one  as  an  office  in  which  to  examine 
patients.  Meetings  were  also  held  here. 
During  the  winter  of  1866  and  1867  a 
course  of  gratuitous  medical  lectures  Avas  de- 
livered here  to  the  students  of  Rev.  T.  ]M. 
Reilly's  Theological  School.  Dr.  John  R. 
Stevenson  lectured  on  materia  medica  and 
practice  of  medicine,  and  Dr.  H.  Genet  Tay- 
lor on  anatomy  and  surgery  to  these  young 
men,  who  M'ere  preparing  themselves  for  mis- 
sionary work  in  the  Territories.  In  the  year 
1884  an  additional  room  was  built  in  the 
rear,  to  be  used  for  holding  consultations. 
At  first  the  second  floor  was  filled  with  hos- 
pital cots  for  the  reception  of  persons  who 
might  receive  accidental  injuries  ;  but  as  suffi- 
cient means  could  not  be  raised  to  provide 
nurses  and  open  a  culinary  department,  the 
project  Avas  abandoned,  and  the  beds  were 
sold  in  1869.     In  1868  this  room  was  rented 


20 


to  Dr.  Reynell  Coates  for  five  dollars  a 
month,  who  lived  in  it  until  1877.  The 
Microscopical  Society  occupied  it  after  1878. 
The  "  Board  of  Pension  Examining  Sur- 
geons" rented  it  in  1885.  When  unoccupied 
it  is  used  for  holding  special  meetings  of 
both  the  City  and  County  Medical  Societies. 
Miss  Elizabeth  Cooper,  who  died  in  1884, 
left  a  bequest  to  the  Dispensary  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars. 


of  establishing  a  hospital  in  West  Jersey 
had  been  for  some  time  contemplated  by 
the  brothers  William  D.  and  Dr.  Richard 
M.  Cooper,  descendants  of  William  Cooper, 
the  first  settler  at  Coopers  Point,  but  dur- 
ing their  lifetime  they  had  taken  no  active 
steps  in  that  direction.  William  D.  Cooper, 
shortly  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1875,  expressed  a  wish  that  fifty  thousand 
dollars  should  be  set  apart  from  his  estate 


COOPER   HOSPITAL. 


During  the  year  1885  the  attending  physi- 
cian had  treated  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  forty-seven  medical  and  surgical  cases, 
and  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  prescriptions  had  been  compounded. 
The  cost  of  this  was  $1335.34,  which  left  a 
balance  of  $242.80  out  of  receipts  amounting 
to  $1578.14. 

The    Cooper    Hospital. — The   project 


and  used  for  hospital  purposes.  The  devisees 
of  his  estate,  who  were  his  sisters  Sarah  W. 
and  Elizabeth  B.  Cooper,  in  accordance  with 
their  brother's  wish,  took  the  matter  into 
consideration,  and  deeming  fifty  thousand 
dollars  insufficient  for  the  erection  and  main- 
tenance of  such  an  institution,  generously 
decided  to  contribute  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  for  that  purpose.     In  addition  to  this. 


21 


they  also,  with  their  brother,  Alexander  Coo- 
per, conveyed  the  plot  of  ground  on  which 
the  hospital  now  stands.  The  ground  extends 
north  and  south  from  Mickle  to  Benson 
Streets  and  east  and  west  from  Sixth  to 
Seventh  Streets,  and  is  valued  at  about  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  making  the  total  amount 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  In 
accordance  with  the  desire  of  the  donors 
a  charter  was  obtained  and  the  act  of  in- 
corporation provided  that  the  corporators 
should  constitute  the  board  of  managers,  and 
that  they  should  have  exclusive  control  of 
the  funds  as  set  forth  in  the  act,  and  in  ac- 
cordance therewith,  the  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  was  placed  in  their  hands. 

The  act  provided  for  the  construction  of 
suitable  buildings  for  hospital  purposes  on 
the  grounds  above  mentioned,  and  also  con- 
tains the  following :  "  The  object  of  said  cor- 
poration shall  be  to  afford  gratuitous  medical 
and  surgical  aid*,  advice,  remedies  and  care  to 
such  invalid  or  needy  persons  as  under  the 
rules  and  by-laws  of  said  corporation  shall  be 
entitled  to  the  same."  The  board  of  mana- 
gers commenced  work  on  the  erection  of  the 
hospital  building  in  the  latter  part  of  1875, 
but  during  the  progress  of  the  work  many 
improvements  not  at  first  contemplated  were 
made,  so  that  when  the  structure  was  com- 
pleted, in  1877,  the  entire  cost  including 
laying  out  of  the  grounds  had  amounted  to 
ninety-five  thousand  dollars,  a  much  larger 
sum  than  was  at  first  estimated  would  be 
required.  This  left  a  balance  of  one  hun- 
dred and  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  pur- 
pose of  an  endowment  fund,  which  was 
invested  in  New  Jersey  mortgages  bearing 
seven  per  cent,  interest.  In  1878  the  legal 
rate  of  interest  was  reduced  to  six  per  cent., 
which  materially  lessened  the  income  to  be 
used  in  defraying  the  operating  expenses 
of  the  hospital,  and  the  board  of  mana- 
gers, after  taking  into  consideration  the  in- 
come thus  unexpectedly  reduced,  concluded 
that  the  amount  was  not  sufficient  to  main- 


tain the  hospital  as  at  first  projected,  and 
deemed  it  advisable  to  add  the  yearly  income 
to  the  endowment  fund  until  a  sufficient  sum 
was  invested  to  guarantee  the  income  neces- 
sary to  support  the  institution.  The  man- 
agers believed  that  the  delay  in  the  opening 
thus  caused  would  result  to  the  benefit  of  the 
public  in  the  larger  accommodations  which 
the  increased  fund  would  permanently  secure. 
The  sum  now  invested  (1886)  the  board  of 
mana-gers  consider  sufficient  to  warrant  the 
opening  of  the  institution. 

The  building  is  constructed  of  Leiperville 
gray  stone,  with  hollow  walls  lined  with 
brick,  three  stories  high.  The  entire  depth 
is  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  feet  by  an 
average  width  of  forty-six  feet.  The  front, 
or  administration  building,  is  fifty-six  feet 
by  forty-six  feet,  and  contains  rooms  for 
offices,  managers,  physicians,  matrons,  apoth- 
ecary and  operating  rooms,  stores,  etc.,  and 
is  connected  with  the  hospital  by  a  corridor 
twenty  feet  by  fourteen,  on  each  side  of 
which  are  linen  rooms  for  the  use  of  the 
hospital. 

There  is  a  male  and  female  ward,  each 
thirty-one  by  seventy-seven  feet,  connecting 
with  sitting-rooms  thirty  by  thirty-one  feet. 
Adjoining  and  connected  Avith  these  wards, 
are  four  small  wards,  each  twelve  by  twenty- 
two  feet ;  there  are  also  four  wards  in  the 
administration  building,  each  sixteen  by 
eighteen  feet ;  the  cubic  air  space  is  about 
two  thousand  four  hundred  feet,  and  the 
floor  space  about  one  hundred  and  seventy 
feet  to  each  patient.  The  basement  of  the 
hospital  building  contains  the  dining-rooms 
and  apartments  for  servants.  Particular  at- 
tention has  been  paid  to  the  sanitary  arrange- 
ments of  the  hospital.  It  is  heated  through- 
out with  steam,  besides  having  open  fire- 
places in  most  of  the  wards  and  rooms ; 
the  ventilation  is  effected  by  means  of  steam 
coils  placed  in  two  large  aspirating  shafts, 
connected  with  which  are  flues  opening  into 
the  wards ;  fresh  air  is  supplied  from  aper- 


22 


tures  in  the  ceilings  leading  outside.  The 
boiler  and  laundry  rooms  are  located  in  a 
.separate  building  connected  with  the  main 
building  by  an  under-ground  passage.  The 
hospital  will  be  opened  at  first  with  about 
fifteen  beds.  Under  the  rules  contemplated 
the  medical  staff  will  consist  of  consulting, 
visiting  and  resident  physicians  and  surgeons. 
The  board  of  managers  are, — President,  Alex- 
ander Cooper ;  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  John 
W.  Wright ;  Peter  L.  Voorhees,  Rodolphus 
Bingham,  Joseph  B.  Cooper,  Augustus  Reeve, 
William  B.  Cooper  and  Richard  H.  Reeve.^ 

BIOGRAPHIES   OF   PHYSICIANS 

Who  practiced  Medicine  in  Camden  County  since  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Camden  County  Medical  Society 
in  1846,  who  are  deceased  or  have  removed  : 

Isaac  Skillman  Mulpoed  was  the  son 
of  Henry  and  Sarah  Mulford,  and  was  born 
at  Alloway's  Creek,  Salem  County,  N.  J.,  on 
December  31,  1799.  Selecting  the  profes- 
sion of  medicine,  he  entered  the  office  of  Dr. 
Joseph  Parrish,  of  Philadelphia,  as  a  student 
in  1819,  and  in  the  same  year  he  attended 
medical  lectures  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, from  which  institution  he  grad- 
uated in  1822.  He  served  for  one  year  as 
resident  physician  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hos- 
pital and  in  1823  began  the  practice  of  med- 
icine in  Camden,  then  a  mere  village,  popu- 
larly known  as  the  "  Ferry,"  in  which,  at 
that  date,  Dr.  Samuel  Harris  was  the  only 
physician.  His  practice  grew  as  Camden  in- 
creased in  population  until  he  became  a  lead- 
ing physician,  a  position  he  retained  for  the 
whole  of  his  career  of  fifty  years  of  profes- 
sional labor.  He  was  noted  for  his  skill  in 
the  diagnosis  of  disease,  a  faculty  that  seemed 
to  be  intuitive  with  him. 

Dr.  Mulford  was  a  pioneer  in  the  organi- 
2;ation  of  Camden  County  and  City  Medical 
Societies  and  City  Dispensary,  and  he  served 
as  president  of  all  of  them.  His  keen  insight 
into  the  needs  of  the  people  and  his  accurate 

1  Transactions  New  Jersey  State  Medical  Society, 
1885. 


judgment  and  precision  in  all  technical  de- 
tails were  valuable  aids  in  laying  the  firm 
foundations  upon  which  those  superstructures 
were  erected.  He  attained  an  enviable  pre- 
eminence in  the  community  for  the  honesty, 
the  firmness  and  the  correctness  of  his  convic- 
tions, both  in  professional  and  secular  affairs. 
Although  never  an  office-seeker,  such  was 
the  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  his 
patriotism  and  public  spirit  that,  when  meet- 
ings were  held  upon  any  important  civic  oc- 
casions, such  as  the  firing  upon  Fort  Sumter 
at  the  commencement  of  the  Rebellion,  he 
would  be  called  upon  to  preside  over 
and  to  address  them.  His  speeches  were 
delivered  with  a  logical  force  that  was 
convincing,  and  with  a  rhetoric  that  rose 
at  times  into  eloquence.  He  was  greatly 
interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  pub- 
lic-school system  in  New  Jersey  and  his  ser- 
vices in  its  behalf  were  rewarded  by  the  Ex- 
ecutive of  the  State  by  an  appointment  after 
its  adoption  as  a  member  of  the  State  School 
Board  of  Education.  He  was  frequently 
elected  a  member  of  the  School  Board  in 
Camden.  He  was  also  one  of  the  visitors  ot 
the  State  Insane  Asylum.  He  was  an  occa- 
sional lecturer  upon  medical  and  scientific 
subjects  and  was  also  the  author  of  a  number 
of  papers  upon  them  published  in  the  medi- 
cal journals.  In  the  year  1848  he  issued 
from  the  press  the  "  Civil  and  Political  His- 
tory of  New  Jersey,"  a  work  which  has  be- 
come a  standard  book  of  reference. 

Dr.  Mulford  married,  in  1830,  Rachel, 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Sarah  Mickle,  of 
Gloucester  (now  Camden)  County.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  joined  the  Society  of  Friends 
and  became  a  prominent  member  of  the  New- 
town Meeting,  of  which  he  was  an  elder  un- 
til his  decease.  His  residence  was  upon  the 
south  side  of  Federal  Street,  between  Second 
and  Third,  in  the  building  now  occupied  by 
the  Camden  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust  Com- 
pany. He  died  February  10,  1873,  and  is 
buried  in  Newtown  Cemetery.     He  left  three 


23 


daughters  still  surviving — Emmaj  who  mar- 
ried Henry  Palmer ;  Mary,  the  wife  of  Colonel 
James  M.  Scovel;  and  Anna,  wife  of  Dr. 
Richard  C.  Dean,  United  States  Navy. 

Benjamin  Whitall  Blackwood  Avas  a 
descendant  of  John  BJackwood,  the  founder 
of  the  town  of  Blackwood,  in  this  county. 
His  father,  John  Blackwood,  who  atone  time 
w"as  associate  judge  of  the  Gloucester  Coun- 
ty Court,  married  Ann  Mickle.  Dr.  Black- 
wood was  born  January  1 6,  1 800,  on  a  farm 
on  the  north  side  of  Newtown  Creek,  about 
a  mile  from  its  mouth.  He  studied  medicine 
under  Dr.  Samuel  Howell,  of  Woodbury,  af- 
terwards of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  March 
27,  1828.  He  began  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  Haddonfield  in  that  year,  but  did  not 
procure  his  license  from  the  New  Jersey 
State  Medical  Society  until  June  12,  1830. 
He  left  Haddonfield,  and  for  a  short  time 
practiced  in  Philadelphia,  but  soon  returned 
to  his  former  residence.  He  joined  the  Cam- 
den County  Medical  Society  in  1847,  but  re- 
signed June  18,  1853,  in  consequence  of  his 
affiliation  with  homoeopathy,  w^iich  was  con- 
trary to  the  code  of  ethics  of  the  society. 
He  married  Mary  Ann  Hopkins,  of  Had- 
donfield, November  24,  1824,  and  died  Jan- 
uary 19,  1866.  His  widow  survived  him 
six  years.  He  had  six  children,  three  of 
whom  are  living  ;  two  daughters  still  live 
in  his  residence,  which  he  built  about  1846. 
Dr.  Blackwood  was  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends  and  a  man  of  exemplary  life. 

Jacob  P.  Thornton  was  a  native  of 
Bucks  County,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  his  early 
life  was  spent  on  the  farm  of  his  parents.  In 
1828  he  graduated  in  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 
located  in  Haddonfield,  N.  J.,  in  the  same 
year.  He  obtained  considerable  practice  and 
remained  there  until  1849.  He  was  one  of 
the  corporators  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
Camden  County  in  1846  and  acted  as  the 
first  treasurer  for  two  years. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  society  January  16, 
1849,  he  resigned  his  membership  "  on  ac- 
count of  the  expense  attending  the  meetings." 

He  soon  after  removed  to  the  State  of 
Ohio,  where  he  is  still  living.  His  practice 
here  covered  a  large  extent  of  territory  and 
in  many  instances  with  indiiferent  pay.  His 
attendance  on  his  patients  was  faithful  and 
conscientious,  always  discharging  that  duty 
to  the  best  of  his  ability. 

He  was  cotemporary  with  Dr.  Charles  D. 
Hendry  and  their  professional  intercourse  was 
always  pleasant,  his  senior  extending  to  him 
the  assistance  and  advice  arising  therefrom. 

Charles  D.  Hendry^  was  the  descend- 
ant of  physicians  on  both  the  maternal  and 
paternal  line,  and  if  particular  characteristics 
be  transmitted  from  father  to  son,  then  he 
had  the  advantage  of  two  generations  on 
either  side  to  strengthen  and  qualify  him  for 
the  healing  art. 

He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry, 
pf  Haddonfield,  who  was  a  son  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Hendry,  of  Woodbury,  both  prac- 
ticing and  successful  physicians.  His  mother 
was  Elizabeth  Duffield,  a  daughter  of  Dr. 

Charles  Duffield,  who  was  a  son  of  Dr. 

Duffield,  both  of  Philadelphia,  whose  lives 
were  spent  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  ■ 

He  was  born  in  Haddonfield  May  8, 1809, 
where  his  parents  then  resided  and  where 
his  father  was  in  active  practice.  From  his 
earliest  recollection  he  was  fiimiliar  with  his 
father's  laboratory  and,  no  doubt,  often  kept 
his  father  busy  answering  questions  relating 
to  the  use  and  application  of  medicines.  The 
skeletons  there  standing  had  no  terror  for 
him  as  a  boy,  but  he  then  saw  the  anatomy 
of  the  human  system,  of  so  much  use  to  him 
in  after-years.  The  diagnosis  of  difficult 
cases  he  often  heard  discussed  when  studying 
his  lessons  for  school,  and  in  his  youth  there 
was  instilled  into  his  mind  things  that  he 
found  advantageous  in  his  profession. 

1  By  Hon.  John  Clement. 


24 


To  show  that  his  father  intended  he  should 
follow  him,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was 
placed  in  a  drug  store  in  Philadelphia,  and 
graduated  in  pharmacy  in  1830.  He  then 
took  his  place  in  the  classes  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  and  won  his  diploma  in 
1832. 

He  had  scarcely  attained  his  majority  be- 
fore his  father  required  him  to  ride  and  see 
his  patients,  and  kept  him  under  his  personal 
supervision  for  several  years.  As  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  was  at  that  time  undergoing 
many  changes,  the  father  differed  widely 
from  the  notions  of  the  son  in  adopting  the 
new  ideas.  Many  amusing  anecdotes  were 
related  by  Dr.  Charles  of  the  the  persistency 
of  Dr.  Bowman  for  the  old  practice. 

On  several  occasions  when  Charles  was 
sent  to  see  patients,  and  had  packed  his  rem- 
edies in  his  pocket,  his  father  would  put  his 
man  on.  a  horse  with  the  traditional  medicine- 
chest  to  follow  him,  supposing  he  had  for- 
gotten the  ever  needful  attendants  of  a  prac- 
titioner of  the  "  old  school."  The  old  gentle- 
man would  often  insist  on  certain  rules  being 
followed  as  only  conducive  to  success,  and 
assure  his  son  that  he  would  lose  his  cases 
and  position  if  he  departed  from  them.  With 
all  due  respect  for  his  experience,  old  theories 
gradually  passed  away,  and  at  his  death 
(April  23,  1838)  Charles  had  succeeded  to 
the  practice  with  advanced  and  popular  ideas. 

Following  the  religious  views  of  his  fam- 
ily, he  did  much  toward  the  building  of  an 
Episcopal  Church  in  Haddonfield,  and  was 
elected  one  of  the  vestrymen  April  20,  1843, 
and  so  remained  until  his  death. 

Believing  that  much  advantage  would  be 
derived  from  more  frequent  intercourse  among 
physicians  in  the  county,  and  after  consider- 
able effort  on  his  part,  the  Camden  County 
Medical  Society  was  organized  August  14, 
1846.  This  was  mutually  beneficial,  and 
soon  became  very  popular  in  the  profession. 
In  1849  he  was  selected  to  represent  the 
society  in  the  American  Medical  Association, 


which  sat  at  Boston,  Mass.,  showing  that  his 
standing  as  a  practitioner  was  appreciated 
among  his  constituents.  He  acted  as  presi- 
dent of  the  county  society  in  1852  and  1853, 
but  in  1865  he  removed  to  Philadelphia, 
and  in  that  year  (June  20th)  resigned  his 
membership.  He  practiced  medicine  in  his 
native  town  and  neighborhood  for  about 
thirty-three  years,  associated  with  others  who 
settled  there  as  the  increase  of  population 
warranted  it.  In  the  early  part  of  his  ser- 
vice the  work  was  exposing  and  laborious, 
presenting  to  him  diseases  in  every  phase 
and  under  every  condition.  Being  of  an 
affable  and  pleasant  address,  and  generally 
reaching  a  correct  diagnosis  of  the  case 
before  him,  he  soon  became  popular,  and 
secured  the  confidence  of  the  community. 
His  care  of  and  attention  to  his  patients  was 
proverbial,  and  he  seldom  allowed  stormy 
weather,  bad  roads  or  dark  nights  to  break 
in  upon  this  rule.  His  operations  in  surgery 
were  limited,  and  in  difficult  cases  he  always 
obtained  the  assistance  of  experts. 

He  gave  considerable  attention  to  climatic 
changes  and  miasmatic  influences  as  control- 
ling the  health  of  the  neighborhood,  and 
drawing  the  attention  of  his  associates  to 
these  important,  but  then  little  understood, 
subjects. 

Being  the  victim  of  hereditary  gout,  aggra- 
vated by  his  frequent  exposure  to  storms  and 
cold,  his  health  gradually  declined,  and  in 
1865  he  abandoned  his  practice  and  removed 
to  Philadelphia.  He  afterwards  returned  to 
Camden,  and  was  often  consulted  by  those 
who  regarded  his  experience  and  skill  as 
superior  to  all  others.  He  died  April  25, 
1869,  and  lies  buried  in  the  cemetery  at 
Colestown,  beside  the  remains  of  his  ances- 
tors. 

John  Rowan  Sickler. — There  were  sev- 
eral physicians  who  practiced  within  the 
territory  of  Camden  County  who  never 
were  members  of  its  medical  society.  One 
of    the   most   prominent  of  these  was  Dr. 


25 


John  R.  Sickler.  He  was  a  native  of  the 
county,  having  been  born  at  Chews  Land- 
ing September  20,  1800.  He  was  the  son 
of  Christopher  and  Sarah  Sickler.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  entered  the  office  of  Ben- 
jamin B.  Cooper  to  learn  surveying  and  con- 
veyancing, an  occupation  he  followed  for 
several  years.  Having  a  natural  fondness 
for  the  profession  of  medicine,  he,  when 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  entered  the  office  of 
Dr.  McClellan,  father  of  General  Geo.  B. 
McClellan,  as  a  student,  and  graduated  at  the 
Jefferson  Medical  College  March  18,  1829. 
The  next  day,  at  his  home  in  Chews  Landing, 
he  paid  his  first  professional  visit  to  James 
D.  Dotterer.  He  continued  in  practice  here 
for  four  years,  a  place  where,  according  to  the 
doctor's  books,  the  people  were  remarkable  for 
being  good  pay.  On  the  25th  of  March,  1832, 
he  removed  to  Camden  and  opened  a  drug-store 
on  Federal  Street,  near  the  ferry,  in  which 
he  sold  a  general  assortment  of  drugs,  in- 
cluding paints  and  oils.  It  was  the  only 
store  of  the  kind  then  in  that  city.  Dr. 
Sickler  still  retained  part  of  his  county  prac- 
tice. After  living  in  Camden  a  little  over 
two  years,  and  his  health  failing,  he  relin- 
quished his  drug  business,  and  on  April  14, 
1834,  returned  to  Chews  Landing.  On  No- 
vember 13th  of  the  same  year  he  moved 
to  Woodbury.  Here  he  remained  until 
March  25,,  1836,  when  he  located  at  Car- 
penters Landing  (now  Mantua)  where  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  days.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  public  affairs.  In  1825  he  was 
a  justice  of  the  peace  for  Gloucester  township, 
and  between  1828  aud  1865  he  was  associate 
judge  of  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  of  Glou- 
cester County,  which,  up  to  1844,  included  in 
it  Camden  County.  In  the  latter  year  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  the  State.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Chosen  Freeholders  of  Gloucester 
from  1859  to  1871.  Several  times  he  was  a 
school  trustee.  He  was  one  of  the  building 
committee  that  erected  the  Gloucester  County 
3 


Almshouse,  and  was  its  first  treasurer.  Be- 
sides attending  to  these  official  duties,  he 
joined  in  the  State,  county  and  district  con- 
ventions of  the  Democratic  party,  of  which 
he  was  a  member.  During  all  these  years  of 
public  life  he  pursued  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine with  skill  and  success.  He  took  much 
interest  in  the  Gloucester  County  Medical 
and  State  Medical  Societies,  being  a  member 
of  both,  and  at  one  time  president  of  the 
latter.  In  the  year  1876,  when  seventy-six 
years  old,  he  retired  from  business.  He 
died  April  11,  1886. 

Myles  and  Martin  Synott  were  broth- 
ers. Their  father  was  Irish  and  their  mother 
American.  They  were  natives  of  Mays 
Landing.  The  elder  brother,  Myles,  was 
born  in  1806,  and  the  younger,  Martin,  April 
8,  1812.  The  former  studied  with  Dr.  Ja- 
cob Fisler,  who  afterward  married  the  Drs. 
Synott's  mother.  He  graduated  at  the  Jef- 
ferson Medical  College  in  1831  and  com- 
menced the  practice  of  medicine  in  Chews 
Landing  in  1833.  He  remained  here  until 
1841,  when  he  removed  to  Glassboro',  Glou- 
cester County,  where  he  died  February  9, 
1867.  He  was  noted  for  his  wit.  He  was 
very  strict  concerning  his  instructions  to  his 
patients,  and  once  blistered  a  man's  feet  be- 
cause he  refused  to  stay  in  the  house  when 
ordered  to  do  so.^  He  married  Harriet 
Whitney,  of  Glassboro',  in  1843,  aud  left 
three  children,  still  living. 

Dr.  Martin  Synott  studied  medicine  with 
his  brother  and  graduated  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  1839.  He  also  located 
at  Chews  Landing,  where  he  practiced  until 
1845,  when  he  removed  to  Blackwood,  where 
he  died  April  8,  1877.  He  was  a  man  of 
tact  and  skill  in  his  profession.  He  married 
Rebecca  Jaggard,  February  12,  1844.  Two 
daughters  survive  him. 

Joseph  Axdersox  Stout,  was  the  son  of 
Benjamin  and  Grace  Stout,  of  Attleborough 

^  Dr.  Somers'  "  Medical  History  of  Atlantic  County," 


26 


(Langhorne),  Bucks  County,  Pa.,  where  he 
was  born  in  1807.  He  studied  medicine 
under  Dr.  Boil,  and  graduated  in  New  York 
in  1831.  Some  time  afterwards  he  located  in 
Long-a-Coming  (now  Berlin),  Camden  Coun- 
ty, his  practice  extending  to  Winslow,  Water- 
ford  and  the  surrounding  country.  In  1838 
he  removed  to  Tuckahoe,  Cape  May  County. 
From  thence  he  went  to  Somers  Point,  At- 
lantic County,  succeeding  Dr.  Lewis  S. 
Somers,  who  had  removed  to  Philadelphia. 
While  in  Tuckahoe  he  married,  in  1839, 
Miss  M.  S.  Godfrey,  a  sister  of  Hon.  John 
Godfrey,  who,  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Stout, 
married  a  Mr.  Ogden.  Dr.  Stout  died  at 
Somers  Point  April  11,  1848,  and  was 
buried  in  Zion  Churchyard,  at  Bargaintown. 
He  was  a  believer  in  the  faith  of  universal 
salvation.  He  left  four  sons,  but  one  of 
whom  is  living.^ 

LoREXZO  F.  FiSLER  was  born  on  a  farm 
in  the  upper  end  of  Cumberland  County, 
near  Fislerville,  on  the  20th  of  April,  1797. 
He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Benjamin  and  Catha- 
rine Fisler.  He  studied  medicine  with  his 
father,  who  then  practiced  medicine  in  Port 
Elizabeth,  and  as  early  as  1815  he  assisted 
the  latter  in  his  profession.  Dr.  Fisler  at- 
tended lectures  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  graduated  therefrom  in  1819. 
He  had  two  brothers,  physicians, — Samuel, 
his  twin  brother,  and  Jacob  who  practiced  in 
Mays  Landing,  Atlantic  County.  Dr.  Lo- 
renzo F.  Fisler  began  his  professional  career 
with  his  brother  Benjamin  in  the  latter  place, 
where,  being  a  good  speaker,  he  occasionally 
preached  in  the  Methodist  Church.  He  re- 
mained here  only  a  short  time.  He  removed 
to  Woodstown,  in  Salem  County,  and  in  1825 
he  passed  his  examination  before  the  board 
of  censors  of  that  county.  In  1832  he  re- 
turned to  Port  Elizabeth,  and  in  1836  he  lo- 
cated in  Camden,  his  office  being  on  Second 
Street  below  Market.     In  this  (iity  he-  soon 

1  Dr.  Somers'  "Medical  History  of  Atlantic  County." 


secured  a  good  practice,  at  the  same  time 
joining  actively  in-  public  affairs.  He  was 
mayor  of  the  city  seven  times.  Dr.  Fisler 
was  a  clear  and  logical  writer,  and  was  the 
author  of  a  pamphlet  history  of  Camden, 
published  in  1858.  As  a  public  lecturer  he 
was  noted  for  his  pleasing  address  and  hu- 
morous satire,  and  he  was  frequently  invited 
to  deliver  addresses  before  associations  of  a 
benevolent  or  charitable  character.  He  never 
joined  either  the  State  or  County  Medical  So- 
cieties, but  he  was  one  of  the  organizers  and 
a  most  efficient  member  of  the  Camden  City 
Medical  Society.  Dr.  Fisler  died  in  Cam- 
den, March  31,  1871.  He  married  Anna 
Maria,  daughter  of  Richard  Somers  and 
Rachael  Risley,  of  Woodstown,  who,  with 
five  children,  are  still  living. 

William  Paeham  was  one  of  the  physi- 
cians in  Camden  County  who  never  joined 
its  medical  society.  He  was  born  in  1803, 
in  Jerusalem,  Va.  He  studied  medicine  in 
Lexington,  Ky.,  and  began  its  practice  in 
Alabama.  From  there  he  went  to  Central 
America  and  was  a  surgeon  in  a  battle  in 
Yucatan.  After  that  he  returned  to  the 
United  States,  and  remained  for  a  time  in 
Philadelphia.  He  then  selected  Tom's  River, 
in  Ocean  County,  JST.  J.,  as  a  field  for 
practice,  but  in  1836  he  removed  to  Tansboro'? 
in  Camden  County,  from  which  place  his 
professional  visits  extended  to  the  adjacent 
towns  of  Waterford  and  AVinslow.  In  a  few 
years  Dr.  Parham  removed  to  Williamstown, 
and  thence  in  1846  to  Blackwood.  He  con- 
tinued to  practice  medicine  here  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  April  2,  1855.  He 
married,  at  Barnegat,  Ocean  County,  Febru- 
ary 28,  1833,  Juliana,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Bugbee,  who  was  a  native  of  Vermont.  They 
had  no  children. 

George  Barrows  was  an  Englishman 
and  received  his  medical  education  in  his 
native  country.  With  a  wife  and  one  child 
he  landed  penniless  in  New  York  in  1836. 
Accidentally  meeting  in  that  city  with  Sooy 


27 


Thompson,  of  Pleasant  Mills,  Atlantic 
County,  N.  J.,  he  ^vas  induced  by  him  to 
settle  in  the  latter  place,  where  he  boarded 
with  Mr.  Thompson  until  he  could  procure 
a  home  for  himself.  Here  he  diligently  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.^ 
Between  the  years  1840  and  1844  he  re- 
moved to  Tansboro',  in  Camden  County.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Camden  Coimty  Medical  Society 
held  December  21,  1847,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  credentials  of  Dr. 
Barrows.  They  reported  that  there  was  on 
file  in  the  clerk's  office  a  certified  copy  of  a 
diploma  granted  to  him  in  1836  by  Dr. 
Henry  Vanderveer,  president  of  the  New 
Jersey  State  Medical  Society.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  ever  applied  for  admission  to 
membership  in  the  County  Medical  Society. 
He  removed  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  died 
in  1852. 

Richard  Matlack  Cooper. — William 
Cooper,  of  Coleshill,  England,  located  land 
at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  in  1678.  On  June 
12,  1682,  he  had  surveyed  to  him  the 
land  at  Pyne,  now  Coopers  Point,  Cam- 
den, to  which  he  then  removed.  Daniel 
Cooper,  the  youngest  son  of  William,  mar- 
ried twice.  By  the  first  wife  he  had  one 
child,  William,  from  whom  is  descended 
the  family  which  by  inheritance  and  pur- 
chase acquired  a  large  part  of  what  is  now 
the  city  of  Camden,  much  of  it  still  being 
in  their  possession. 

Of  this  family  was  Dr.  Richard  M. 
Cooper,  the  son  of  Richard  M.  and  Mary 
Cooper,  born  in  Camden  August  30,  1816. 
His  father,  who  was  a  man  of  distinc- 
tion, gave  his  son  a  liberal  education.  After 
a  course  of  study  at  a  preparatory  school 
he  entered  the  Department  of  Arts  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1832,  and 
graduated  from  it  in  1836.  Heat  once  com- 
menced the  study  of  medicine  with  Professor 
George  B.Wood, of  the  Medical  Department 

1  Dr.  Somers'  Medical  "  History  of  Atlantic  County.  " 


of  the  same  University,  and  after  attending 
three  courses  of  lectures  there,  received  from 
it  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  1839. 

At  this  date  the  lower  part  of  Camden, 
called  South  Camden,  was  being  settled  by 
negroes  and  poor  whites.  Among  these  Dr. 
Cooper  began  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
gratuitously  dispensing  necessary  medicines. 
His  colleagues  in  the  profession  were  Drs. 
Samuel  Harris,  Isaac  S.  Mulford  and  Loren- 
zo F.  Fisler,  all  men  of  ability  and  exper- 
ience, with  whom  he  soon  took  an  equal  rank 
as  a  skilful  practitioner. 

Dr.  Cooper  took  an  active  interest  in  the 
organization  of  the  Camden  County  Medical 
Society  in  1846,  being  one  of  its  corpora- 
tors, its  first  secretary  and  subsequently  its 
treasurer.  He  was  a  member  of  its  board  of 
censors  from  the  time  of  their  appointment, 
in  1847,  until  1851,  and  as  such  it  was  his 
duty  to  examine  into  the  qualifications  of  all 
physicians  desiring  to  practice  medicine  in 
the  district. 

Professionally,  Dr.  Cooper  appears  to  have 
attained  almost  the  station  of  the  ideal  phy- 
sician, for  he  had  a  broad  love  for  humanity 
as  well  as  an  enthusiasm  for  the  healing  art. 
"  He  was  distinguished,"  says  one  who  knew 
him,  "  for  that  gentle  and  cheerful  demeanor 
in  a  sick-room  which  not  only  inspired  faith 
in  his  patient,  but  assuaged  the  pangs  of 
many  an  aching  heart.  Such  was  the  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held,  that  many  seemed  to 
believe  that  his  presence  in  a  sick-room 
would  relieve  the  sufferer.  His  skill  and 
constant  studious  research  in  his  profession, 
however,  gave  him  a  success  which  inspired 
this  confidence ;  and  practicing,  because  he 
loved  to  practice,  gave  him  an  experience 
which  increased  his  knowledge.  ...  A  man 
cast  in  such  a  mold  would  naturally  find 
pleasure  in  forwarding  works  of  charity  and 
benevolence.     It  was  so  in  this  case." 

One  of  Doctor  Cooper's  characteristics  was 
his  modesty.  He  would  not  permit  his  name 
to  be  proposed  for  president  of  the  County 


28 


Medical  Society  until  1871,  because  he  was 
unwilling  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  promo- 
tion of  its  younger  members.    For  the  same 
reason  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  dele- 
gate to  the   American    Medical   Association 
only  when  its  meetings  were  held  at  a  dis- 
tance, because  he  could  spare  the  time  occu- 
pied, and  the  expense  incurred  in  its  attend- 
ance, better   than   his   fellow-members.     In 
1871  he  read  before  the  Society  a  history  of 
it  from  its  incorporation,  the  MSS.  of  which 
are  preserved  in  the  archives.     He  was  fre- 
quently chairman  of  the  standing  committee, 
and  wrote  the  medical  reports  made  to  the 
New  Jersey  State   Medical   Society,  which 
were  marked  by  a  comprehensive  knowledge 
of  the  diseases  of  his  native  county.     He  be- 
came president  of  the  latter  society  in  1856. 
"  Engrossed,  as  Dr.  Cooper  was,  by  the  on- 
erous duties  of  an  exacting  profession,  which 
were  discharged  with'  a  fidelity,  skill  and  self- 
abnegation  worthy    of  the   man,    he   found 
time,  amid  all   these,  to  intimately  acquaint 
himself  with  what  was  passing  in  the  busy 
world  around  him.     There  seemed  to  be  no 
subject,  national,  state,   county  or  municipal, 
that  escaped  his  notice,  or  that  he  did  not  ex- 
ercise his  impartial   judgment   in   properly 
considering  and  criticising.     Those  measures 
which    involved    the  vital   concerns  of  the 
country,    when   torn    asunder  for   the   time 
by  fratricidal   strife,  awakened    his    deepest 
thought,    and  when   drawn   out,   he   would 
discuss   them   with  that  unconscious  ability 
characteristic    of    the   man.     He   displayed 
the  same  cogent  reasoning  and  methods  of 
thought  in  reaching  satisfactory  conclusions 
when  giving  expression  to  his  views  in  regard 
to  the   more  intimate  concerns  of  his  State. 
Laws  affecting  its  policy  or  the  interests  of 
the   people  seldom  escaped  his  observation, 
or  failed  to   provoke   his    favorable  or   ad- 
verse  criticism,     and   no    one    could    listen 
without   being    instructed    as    well  as  sur- 
prised at  the  large  fund   of  general  infor- 
mation always  at  hand  to  draw  from  in  illus- 


trating a  point  or  in  enforcing  an  argument. 
But  it  was  in  home  affairs  that  Dr.  Cooper 
showed  his  greatest  interest  and  his  thorough 
acquaintance  with  everything  connected  with 
the  public  welfare.  He  scrutinized  with  the 
greatest  care  every  action  of  the  local  author- 
ities involving  the  city's  welfare,  never 
withholding  his  approval  where  the  step 
to  be  taken  was  warranted  by  the  city's 
finances  and  demanded  for  the  public  good. 
Dr.  Cooper  was  never  indifferent  to  his 
responsibility  as  a  citizen,  and  it  was 
this  that  led  those  who  knew  him  best  to 
seek  his  advice  and  counsel  when  matters  of 
public  interest  required  the  mature  delibera- 
tion of  one  so  prudent,  unselfish  and  dis- 
criminating." 

Dr.  Cooper  was  one  of  the  originators  of 
the  Camden  City  Medical  Society,  and  was 
a  most  efficient  member.  He  was  a  corpor- 
ator of  the  Camden  City  Dispensary,  and  its 
treasurer  from  its  incorporation  until  his 
death. 

The  Cooper  Hospital,  described  elsewhere, 
was  a  project  of  his,  in  conjunction  with  his 
brother,  Wm.  D.  Cooper,  which,  although  not 
commenced  in  the  lifetime  of  the  projectors 
was,  after  their  decease,  established  and  en- 
dowed by  their  sisters  Sarah  W.  and  Eliza- 
beth B.  Cooper,  who  with  their  brother, 
Alexander  Cooper,  also  conveyed  the  land 
upon  which  the  buildings  are  located. 
For  many  years  Dr.  Cooper  was  a  sufferer 
from  hereditary  gout,  from  the  consequences 
of  which,  superadded  to  the  labors  of  a  very 
extensive  practice,  he  died  May  24,  1874, 
while,  for  a  second  time,  president  of  his 
favorite,  the  Camden  County  Medical  Society, 
to  which  he  bequeathed,  in  his  will,  the  sum 
of  three  thousand  dollars,  the  interest  of 
which  was  to  be  used  in  defraying  its  ex- 
penses. He  M^as  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  whose  faith  had  been  the  religion  of 
his  ancestors.     He  was  never  married. 

EzEKiEL  Cooper  Che^v  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry, 


29 


of  Haddon field,  and  completed  his  education 
at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  1843.  He 
was  the  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Mary  Chew,  of 
Greenwich  (now  Mantua)  township,  Glouces- 
ter County,  and  was  born  January  17,  1822. 
He  first  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
in  Blackwood,  and  joined  the  Camden 
County  Medical  Society  in  1851.  He  had 
been  a  member  about  two  years,  when  he  left 
this  county  and  removed  to  Iowa,  and  sub- 
sequently settled  in  Indiana,  where  he  was 
still  living  three  years  ago.  Dr.  Chew  was  a 
man  of  commanding  appearance  and  had  a 
fine  physique.  He  married  Miss  Caroline 
Bishop  Woolston,  of  Vincentown,  Burlington 
County,  N.  J.,  and  had  fourteen  children,  of 
whom  seven  sons  and  three  daughters  are 
living,  and  four  sons  are  dead. 

Othniel  Hart  Taylor  was  born  in 
Philadelphia  May  4,  1803.  His  father  was 
William  Taylor,  Jr.,  who  married  Mary  E. 
Gazzam,  both  of  Cambridge,  England, 
whence  they  removed  to  Philadelphia,  in 
which  city  Mr.  Taylor  was  engaged  in  an  ex- 
tensive mercantile  business  for  more  than 
forty  years. 

The  early  life  of  his  son  Othniel  was  occu- 
pied mainly  in  attendance  upon  schools  of 
elementary  instruction  in  Philadelphia  and 
Holmesburg,  Pa.,  and  in  Baskenridge,  N.  J. 
In  1818  he  entered  the  Literary  Department 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in 
1820  he  became  a  medical  student  in  the  of- 
fice of  that  distinguished  physician  and  sur- 
geon, Thomas  T.  Hewson,  M.D,,  at  the  same 
time  attending  a  course  of  medical  instruction 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  com- 
pleted his  studies  there  in  1826  and  grad- 
uated with  the  class  of  that  year.  After  his 
graduation,  Dr.  Taylor  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  was  very  soon  appointed  one 
of  tlie  physicians  to  the  City  Dispensary,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  many  years,  and 
about  the  same  time  he  was  elected  out-door 
physician    to  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  a 


position  he  held  for  eight  years.  During  the 
year  1832  the  Asiatic  cholera  made  its  first 
appearance  in  this  continent,  and  Dr.  Taylor 
distinguished  himself  by  volunteering  to 
serve  in  the  city  hospitals  which  were  estab- 
lished in  the  emergency  by  the  municipal  au- 
thorities, while  he  was  at  the  same  time  act- 
ing as  one  of  the  Committee  of  Physicians 
appointed  by  the  City  Councils  as  consulting 
physicians  to  their  sanitary  board. 

The  hospital  which  was  especially  in  his 
charge  was  known  as  St.  Augustine  Hos- 
pital, in  Crown  Street,  and  the  number  of 
cholera  patients  reported  by  him  as  under 
treatment  in  that  hospital  was  five  hundred 
and  twelve.  He  was  also  elected  as  one  of 
a  commission  of  medical  men  who  were  sent 
to  Montreal,  in  Canada,  to  study  the  charac- 
ter and  treatment  of  cholera  on  its  out- 
break in  that  city,  and  before  its  appearance 
in  our  cities  ;  but  being  unable  to  accompany 
the  commission,  he  declined  in  favor  of  Dr. 
Charles  D.  Meigs,  who,  with  Drs.  Richard 
Harlan  and  Samuel  Jackson,  made  the  visit 
and  report.  Upon  the  closing  of  the  hospi- 
tals after  the  disappearance  of  the  cholera, 
Dr.  Taylor,  with  seven  other  physicians  who 
had  been  in  charge  of  cholera  hospitals,  re- 
ceived, by  vote  of  the  City  Council,  a  testi- 
monial of  their  appreciation  of  the  services 
which  they  had  rendered  to  the  city,  each  of 
thera  being  presented  with  a  service  of  silver 
bearing  inscription  that  it  was  given  "  as  a 
token  of  regard  for  intrepid  and  disinterested 
services." 

In  consequence  of  impaired  health.  Dr. 
Taylor,  in  1838,  relinquished  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  Philadelphia  and  removed  to 
Abington,  Pa.  ;  thence  he  went,  in  1841,  to 
Caldwell,  Essex  County,  N.  J.,  and  in  1844 
he  located  himself  in  Camden,  continuing 
actively  in  the  practice  of  medicine  there 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life.^ 

Dr.  Taylor  was  one  of  the  three  physicians 

1  Transactions  New  .Jersey  State  Medical  Society, 
1870. 


30 


of  Camden  City  whose  names  appear  in  the 
list  of  corporators  of  the  Camden  County 
Medical  Society  in  1846,  and  he  was  its  first 
vice-president,  holding  the  office  for  four 
years.  In  1856  he  became  its  president. 
For  twenty-three  years  he  was  one  of  its 
most  attentive,  active  and  efficient  members, 
his  learning  and  experience  rendering  his  ser- 
vices invaluable  in  committee  work.  He 
was  elected  vice-president  of  the  State  Medi- 
cal Society  successively  in  1849,  1850  and 
1851,  and  president  of  that  society  in  1852. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  City 
Medical  Society  and  had  filled  its  most  im- 
portant offices  ;  and  he  introduced  into  it  the 
resolution  for  the  founding  of  a  City  Dispen- 
sary, of  which,  when  eventually  it  was  estab- 
lished, he  was  orie  of  the  corporators  and  a 
manager  until  ill  health  compelled  his  retire- 
ment. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  the  author  of  quite  a  num- 
ber of  valuable  articles  and  addresses  upon 
medicine  and  related  subjects  which  were 
published  in  the  medical  and  other  journals. 
In  addition  to  this,  he  was  frequently  a  lec- 
turer before  lyceums  and  other  societies,  and 
this  contributed  much  to  the  intellectual  de- 
velopment of  Camden.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  in 
1847  he  was  elected  a  warden  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Camden,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  senior  warden  of  that  parish. 

In  1832,  Dr.  Taylor  married  Evelina  C, 
daughter  of  Jehu  and  Anna  Burrough,  of 
Gloucester  (now  Camden  County).  During 
his  residence  in  Camden  he  lived  in  the  house 
on  Market  Street,  above  Third,  built  by  Mrs. 
Burrough  in  1809,  where  the  doctor  died  of 
pneumonic  phthisis  September  5,  1869.  His 
widow  survived  until  September  18,  1878, 
leaving  three  sons — Dr.  H.  Genet  Taylor, 
Marmaduke  B.  Taylor  (a  lawyer  in  Camden) 
and  O.  G.  Taylor  (deceased),  who  for  nearly 
twenty  years  was  apothecary  and  superinten- 
dent of  the  Camden  Dispensary. 

William   C.    Mulford   was    a  pioneer 


physician  in  Gloucester  City,  having  re- 
moved to  it  from  Pittsgrove,  Salem  County, 
in  1845,  soon  after  the  first  mill  was  erected 
in  the  former  place.  He  was  the  son  of 
William  and  Ann  JVtulford,  and  was  born 
July  17,  1808,  in  Salem  City.  Commencing 
the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  Beasley,  he 
attended  medical  lectures  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  and  graduated  in  1830. 
He  practiced  medicine  in  Pittsgrove,  Salem 
County,  where  he  married  his  wife,  Emily 
Dare,  on  March  28,  1833.  Upon  his  re- 
moval to  Gloucester  City  he  was  appointed 
its  first  postmaster,  the  post-office  being  in  a 
corner  room  of  the  factory.  Dr.  Mulford 
continued  practicing  his  profession  here 
until  1862,  when  he  was  commissioned  an 
assistant  surgeon  in  the  Third  New  York 
Cavalry,  serving  with  it  for  six  months, 
when  he  was  detailed  for  hospital  duty  in 
Rhode  Island,  and  then  in  Washington. 
He  was  on  duty  at  and  witnessed  the  execu- 
tion of  Mrs.  Surratt.  He  was  honorably 
discharged  from  the  service  in  April,  1866, 
when  he  recommenced  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  Gloucester  City,  and  continued  there 
until  1870.  In  that  year  he  removed  to  a 
farm  he  had  purchased  in  Charles  City 
County,  Va.,  where  he  died  December  3, 
1878.  He  never  joined  either  of  the  medical 
societies. 

Reynell  Coates  moved  to  Camden  in 
1845,  where  he  attended  an  occasional  pa- 
tient during  the  earlier  years  of  his  residence 
in  it.  He  belonged  to  an  old  Philadelphia 
family,  and  was  born  in  that  city  j)ecem- 
ber  10,  1802.  His  father,  Samuel  Coates, 
sent  him  to  the  well-known  Friends'  School 
at  Westtown.  Afterwards  he  attended  med- 
ical lectures  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  graduated  in  1823.  Dr. 
Coates  was  a  man  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
erratic  genius,  and  a  poet  of  considerable 
reputation.  He  was  a  well-known  author 
upon  medical,  scientific  and  political  sub- 
jects,   and   some   of  his    works    have    been 


31 


translated  into  other  languages;  a  list  of  them 
may  be  found  in  Allibone's  "  Dictionary  of 
Authors."  He  likewise  for  a  time  took  an 
active  part  in  politics,  and  in  1852  was  the 
candidate  for  Vice  President  on  the  Native 
American  ticket.  Before  he  came  to  Cam- 
den he  had  separated  from  his  wife,  with 
whom  he  had  lived  but  one  year.  In  this 
city  he  was  very  poor  at  times  and  depend- 
ent upon-  the  assistance  of  his  relatives  in 
Philadelphia.  Sometimes  he  boarded,  but 
frequently  he  lived  entirely  alone,  doing  his 
own  cooking.  In  1867  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Camden  City  Medical  So- 
ciety. Dr.  Coates  was  the  anonymous  author 
of  a  biography  of  Dr.  Bowman  Hendry,  of 
Haddonfield,  published  in  pamphlet  form 
in  1848.  He  died  in  Camden  April  27,  1886. 
Aarox  Dickinson  Woodruff  was  the 
first  member  to  join  the  Camden  County 
Medical  Society  after  its  incorporation,  which 
he  did  in  1847.  His  grandfather,  A. 
D.  Woodruff,  was  attorney-general  of  New 
Jersey  from  1800  to  1818.  Dr.  Woodruff 
was  the  son  of  Elias  Decou  Woodruif  and 
Abigail  Ellis  Whitall,  and  was  born  in 
Woodbury,  N.  J.,  May  4,  1818.  Upon  the 
death  of  his  father,  in  1824,  his  mother  re- 
moved to  Georgetown,  D.  C,  and  thence,  in 
1829,  to  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Woodruff  was 
educated  at  the  academy  of  Samuel  Jones. 
At  sixteen  he  entered  the  drug  store  of 
Charles  Ellis,  and  graduated  at  the  College 
of  Pharmacy  in  1838.  In  1840  he  went  to 
Woodville,  Miss.,  to  take  charge  of  a  drug 
store,  but  commencing  the  study  of  medicine, 
he  returned,  in  1842,  to  Philadelphia,  and 
pursued  his  studies  under  Dr.  Thomas  Mut- 
ter, professor  of  surgery  in  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  from  which  school  he  grad- 
uated in  1844.  He  spent  a  few  months  in 
the  Peimsylvania  Hospital,  and  then  com- 
menced the  practice  of  medicine  in  Haddon- 
field, where  he  soon  won  the  confidence  of 
the  people  aiid  secured  an  extensive  practice. 
In  1865,  in  consequence  of  impaired  health 


from  overwork.  Dr.  Woodruff  retired  from 
practice  and  removed  to  Philadelphia.  He 
resigned  from  the  Medical  Society  in  1871, 
upon  his  removal  to  his  farm  in  Princess 
Anne,  Md.,  but  was  elected  an  honorary 
member  of  it.  He  died  in  Philadelphia  in 
January,  1881.  He  was  an  elder  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  Dr.  Woodruff  mar- 
ried Miss  Anne  Davidson,  of  Georgetown, 
D.  C,  but  left  no  issue. 

James  C,  Risley  was  one  of  the  corpor- 
ators and  first  president  of  the  Camden 
County  Medical  Society,  being  at  that  time 
a  practitioner  of  medicine  at  Long-a-Coming 
(Berlin),  where  he  remained  until  1849.  He 
was  the  son  of  Judge  James  Risley,  of 
Wood&town,  Salem  County,  born  in  June, 
1817.  He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  J. 
Hunt,  and  was  licensed  by  the  board  of 
censors  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Medical 
Society  in  June,  1838,  but  he  did  not  attend 
medical  lectures  until  some  years  later,  finally 
graduatine  in  1844  at  the  Jefferson  Medical 
College.  In  the  mean  time  he  had  practiced 
medicine  at  Port  Elizabeth  until  1842,  when 
he  returned  to  Woodstown.  After  his  gradu- 
ation he  located  in  Camden  County.  From 
here,  in  1849,  he  went  to  Columbia,  Pa.,  and 
remained  there  until  1856,  when  he  removed 
to  Muscatine,  Iowa.  He  returned  to  Penn- 
sylvania in  1861,  and  opened  an  office  at 
New  Brighton,  continuing  here  until  1864, 
when,  his  health  being  impaired,  he  went  back 
to  his  home  in  Woodstown,  where  he  died 
November  21,  1866.^  Dr.  Risley  was  a  man 
of  commanding  appearance  and  pleasing  ad- 
dress, with  colloquial  powers  that  won  for 
him  a  quick  appreciation  from  his  patrons. 
He  married  Miss  Caroline  Crompton,  of  Port 
Elizabeth,  who  survived  him. 

Bow:man  Hendry,  Jr.,  was  the  son  ot 
Dr.  Bowman  Hendry,  and  was  born  in  Hud- 
donfield  May  4,  1820.  His  father  dying 
when  his  son  was  a  youth,  young  Hendry 

1  Transactions  New  Jersey  State  Medical  Society, 
1867. 


32 


studied  medicine  with  his  brother  Charles,  and 
graduated  from  the  Jefferson  College  in  1846. 
For  a  few  months  he  practiced  medicine  in 
Iladdonfield,  and  then  removed  to  Gloucester 
City,  a  place  that  had  just  been  started  as  a 
manufacturing  town.  After  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  Dr.  Hendry  entered  the  army 
and  was  appointed  assistant  surgeon  of  the 
Sixth  New  Jersey  Regiment,  and  continued 
with  it  until  the  regiment  was  mustered  out 
of  service,  September  7,  1864.  Next  he  was 
attached  to  the  Mower  Hospital,  at  German- 
town,  Pa.,  where  he  remained  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  then  located  in  Camden 
City,  where  he  practiced  medicine  until  his 
death,  June  8,  1868.  Dr.  Hendry  was  a 
member  of  the  Camden  City  and  Camden 
County  Medical  Societies,  having  joined  the 
latter  in  1847,  and  was  its  president  in  1860. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  both,  and  read  before 
the  City  Society  a  valuable  paper  upon  the 
Mower  Hospital.  He  married,  February 
24,  1850,  Helen  A,  Sarchet,  of  Gloucester 
City,  who,  with  one  daughter,  resides  in 
Camden. 

Charles  W.  Sartoei  was  born  in  Tren- 
ton, N.  J.,  September  6,  1806.  His  father, 
John  Baptiste  Sartori,  a  native  of  E,ome, 
Italy,  came  to  the  United  States  in  1791. 
He  returned  to  Rome  as  United  States  con- 
sul from  1795  to  1800,  when  he  came  back 
to  the  United  States  as  consul  for  the  Papal 
States.  Dr.  Sartori's  mother  was  Henrietta, 
daughter  of  Chevalier  De  Woopoin,  a  French 
officer,  who  acquired  large  estates  in  San 
Domingo,  but  was  killed  in  the  negro  in- 
surrection in  that  island.  Dr.  Sartori  was 
educated  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.  He  studied 
medicine  and  graduated  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  1829.  Commencing  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Port  Republic,  At- 
lantic County,  he  remained  there  until  1839, 
when  he  removed  to  Tuckerton,  Burlington 
County,  and  practiced  there  until  1843.  Be- 
tween this  date  and  1849  he  was  again  in  At- 
lantic  County,   at   Pleasant   Mills,    Atsion, 


Batsto,  and  in  the  latter  year  located  at  Black- 
wood, Camden  County,  where  he  stayed  only 
a  short  time,  removing  from  thence  to  Cam- 
den. He  never  practiced  medicine  in  Cam- 
den, although  it  was  his  residence  until  his 
death,  on  October  4,  1875.  On  May  10, 
1861,  he  was  appointed  acting  assistant  sur- 
geon in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  United  States  steamer 
"  Flag,"  his  brother,  Louis  C.  Sartori,  now 
commodore  on  the  retired  list  United  States 
Navy,  being  commander  of  that  vessel.  In 
1863  he  was  transferred  to  the  United  States 
steamer  "  Wyalusing,"  from  which  vessel  he 
resigned  July  19,  1864.  In  1833  Dr.  Sartori 
married  Ann  L.,  widow  of  Captain  Robert 
D.  Giberson,  of  Port  Republic.  He  was 
never  a  member  of  either  of  the  Medical 
Societies  in  Camden  County. 

John  Yooehees  Schenck  belonged  to 
an  old  East  Jersey  family,  who  have  had  a 
number  of  representatives  in  the  medical 
profession.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Ferdi- 
nand S.  and  Leah  Voorhees  Schenck,  and 
was  born  in  Somerset  County,  N.  J.,  Novem- 
ber 17,  1824.  The  elder  Dr.  Schenck 
represented  his  district  in  Congress  for  four 
years,  and  between  1845  and  1851  he  was 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Errors  and 
Appeals.  Dr.  John  V.  Schenck  received  his 
academical  education  at  Rutgers  College, 
from  which  he  obtained  his  diploma  in  1844. 
Then  he  attended  medical  lectures  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  graduated 
in  1847.  At  first  he  assisted  his  father  in 
his  practice  in  his  native  place,  but  soon  re- 
moved to  Monmouth  County,  where  he  re- 
mained but  a  short  time.  In  1848  he  located 
in  Camden  and  gradually  secured  probably 
the  most  extensive  practice,  especially  in 
obstetrics,  of  any  physician  who  ever  prac- 
ticed there.  He  was  the  elevenlth  member 
admitted  (1848)  to  the  Camden  County  Med- 
ical Society,  and  became  its  secretary  and 
treasurer  in  1856,  and  its  president  in  1859. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Camden 


33 


City  Medical  Society,  and  a  corporator  of  the 
Camden  City  Dispensary,  and  was  secretary 
of  the  former  from  its  commencement  until 
1859.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  New 
Jersey  State  Medical  Society  and  its  presi- 
dent in  1876.  His  health  becoming  impaired 
by  overwork,  he  visited  Europe  for  a  few 
months.  Returning  somewhat  benefited,  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  died 
July  25,  1882,  while  on  a  short  sojourn  at 
Atlantic  City.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church.  Dr.  Schenck 
married  Martha  McLeod,  daughter  of  Henry 
McKeen,  of  Philadelphia.  He  left  a  widow 
and  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  is  the  wife 
of  Major  Franklin  C.  Woolman,  of  Camden. 

Dr.  Peter  Voorhees  Schenck  was  a 
younger  brother  of  Dr.  J.  V.  Schenck  and 
was  born  May  23, 1838.  He  was  a  student 
at  Princeton  College,  but  retired  in  conse- 
quence of  impaired  health.  Upon  his  recov- 
ery he  matriculated  in  medicine  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1860.  He  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  West  Philadelphia,  but 
upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  in 
1861,  he  entered  the  regular  army  and 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he 
resigned.  In  1867  he  joined  his  brother  in 
Camden  and  was  admitted  a  member  of  both 
of  the  medical  societies.  In  the  succeeding 
year  he  removed  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  was 
at  one  time  the  health  officer  of  St.  Louis 
and  physician-in-chief  of  the  female  depart- 
ment of  the  City  Hospital.  He  married  Ruth 
Anna,  daughter  of  John  and  Ruth  Anna 
McCuue,  of  St.  Louis.  He  died  March  12, 
1885,  leaving  a  widow  and  four  children. 

Thomas  F.  Cullex  was  one  of  the  few 
members  of  the  Camden  County  Medical  So- 
ciety who  passed  an  examination  before  its 
board  of  censors,  receiving  his  license  June 
18,  1850.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
society  in  the  following  December.  He  was 
the  son  of  Captain  Thomas  Cullen,  of  the 


Philadelphia  merchant  marine,  and  was  born 
in  that  city  September  3,  1822.  He  received 
his  scholastic  education  in  Mount  Holly,  N. 
J.,  to  which  place  his  parents  had  removed. 
Dr.  Cullen  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Heber 
Chase,  a  surgeon  of  Philadelphia,  and  gradu- 
ated at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in 
1844.  His  first  field  of  practice  was  in  New- 
ark, Delaware,  but  in  1849  he  removed  to 
Camden.  Here  his  great  natural  abilities  and 
careful  training  brought  him  promihently 
forward,  especially  as  a  surgeon,  in  which 
branch  of  the  profession  he  became  so  skilled 
and  successful  that  for  the  first  time  in  its 
history  Camden  became  independent  of  its 
neighbor  across  the  Delaware  for  the  per- 
formance of  a  capital  surgical  operation.  He 
was  an  active  member  of  the  medical  socie- 
ties, serving  as  president  of  the  city  and  county 
societies,  and  of  the  State  society  in  1869. 
While  a  member  of  the  former  two,  no  com- 
mittee was  complete  without  him.  He  was 
one  of  the  corporators  of  the  Camden  Dis- 
pensary and  Cooper  Hospital.  Of  the  former, 
he  was  two  years  its  president,  and  a  director 
of  the  latter  until  his  death.  He  died  No- 
vember 21,  1877.     He  left  no  issue. 

Jacob  Grigg  is  of  English  descent.  His 
grandfather.  Rev.  Jacob  Grigg,  was  a  Baptist 
missionary,  sent  from  England  to  Sierra 
Leone,  Africa,  but  his  health  failing,  he  sailed 
for  America.  His  son,  Dr.  John  R.  Grigg, 
the  father  of  Dr.  Jacob  Grigg,  practiced  med- 
icine at  White  Marsh,  Pennsylvania,  where 
the  latter  was  born,  June  23,  1821.  Reread 
medicine  with  his  father,  and  received  his 
diploma  from  the  University  of  Pennsylva- 
nia in  1843.  In  the  same  year  he  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  John  Bruner,  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  in  that  State,  in  the  mean- 
while practicing  medicine  in  conjunction  with 
his  fiither.  In  1 844  Dr.  Jacob  Grigg  removed 
to  Bucks  County,  and  from  thence,  in  1849, 
to  Blackwood,  in  Camden  County,  New  Jer- 
sey. On  June  18,  1849,  the  board  of  censors 
of  the  Camden  County  Medical  Society  re- 


34 


ported  that  Dr.  Grigg  had  passed  a  successful 
examination  and  had  received  a  license  to 
practice  in  the  State.  At  the  serai-annual 
meeting  of  the  society,  held  December  19th 
of  that  year,  he  was  elected  a  member.  He 
was  burned  out  in  1852  and  removed  to 
Pennsylvania,  at  which  time  his  name  was 
dropped  from  the  roll  of  the  society.  Re- 
turning in  a  few  months  to  Camden  County, 
he  remained  until  1857,  when  he  left  this 
county*  and  settled  in  the  adjoining  one 
of  Burlington.  His  present  residence  is  Mt. 
Holly. 

Robert  M.  Smallivood  belonged  to  an 
old  Gloucester  County  family.  He  was  the 
son  of  John  C.  and  Mary  Smallwood,  of 
Woodbury,  and  was  born  August  20, 1827. 
Adopting  the  profession  of  medicine,  he  en- 
tered the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  graduated  in  1849.  He  at  once  located  in 
Chews  Landing  and  continued  in  practice  there 
fortwo years.  He  joined  the  Camden  County 
Medical  Society  June  19,  1849.  In  the 
year  1851  he  entered  the  United  States  Navy, 
and  in  1852  was  assigned  to  duty  upon  the 
ship  "  Levant"  and  sailed  for  the  Mediterra- 
nean. While  upon  this  cruise  his  health 
failed  him,  and  returning  home,  he  died  of 
phthisis,  February  8, 1856.  He  married  Mrs. 
Mary  A.  F.  Gest  in  1850,  and  had  four 
children. 

John  I.  Jessup. — At  a  meeting  of  the 
Camden  County  Medical  Society  held  at 
Camden,  June  19, 1849,  the  society  adjourned 
for  a  few  hours  to  give  the  "  board  of  censors 
an  opportunity  to  examine  candidates  for  a 
license  to  practice  medicine  in  the  State."  At 
half-past  two  o'clock  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Mulford, 
president  of  the  board,  reported  that  after  a 
satisfactory  examination  they  had  granted 
licenses  to  "  Dr.  Theodore  H.  Varick,  of 
Hudson  County  ;  Dr.  John  I.  Jessup,  of  At- 
lantic County ;  and  Dr.  John  W.  Snowden, 
of  Camden  County."  At  the  semi-annual 
meeting,  held  on  December  18th,  of  this 
year.  Dr.  Jessup  was  elected  a  member  of  the 


society.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Josiah  Albert- 
son,  who  kept  the  old  hotel  in  Blue  Anchor 
from  1812  until  the  Camden  and  Atlantic 
Railroad  was  built,  in  1852. 

Dr.  Jessup  graduated  at  the  Jeiferson  Med- 
ical College  in  1848,  and  seems  to  have  prac- 
ticed for  a  short  time  in  Camden  County. 
Soon  after  joining  its  society  he  removed  to 
Somers  Point,  in  Atlantic  County.  In  1852 
he  became  prostrated  by  phthisis,  which 
caused  him  to  return  to  Blue  Anchor,  where 
he  soon  afterwards  died.^ 

Sylvester  Birdsell's  parentage  was  of 
Pennsylvania  origin.  His  father,  James 
Birdsell,  married  Mary  Pyle,  both  of  Ches- 
ter County,  in  that  State.  Their  son  Syl- 
vester was,  however,  born  in  Baltimore,  JNId., 
August  21,  1824.  He  was  of  a  studious 
turn  of  mind,  and  taught  school  while  at- 
tending medical  lectures  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  from  which  he  graduated 
in  1848.  Dr.  Birdsell  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  at  Point  Pleasant,  Bucks 
County,  Pa.  In  1850  he  moved  to  what  was 
then  known  as  South  Camden,  N.  J.,  where 
he  opened  a  drug  store  and  began  practicing 
medicine.  In  the  same  year  he  joined  the 
County  Medical  Society,  becoming  its  presi- 
dent in  1858.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  city  society.  His  knowledge  aiid 
ability  secured  for  him  a  professorship  in  the 
"Woman's  Medical  College  "  of  Philadel- 
phia, a  position  he  held  for  some  time.  Dr. 
Birdsell  married  Jane  B.  Laird,  whose  death 
preceded  by  several  years  his  own,  which  oc- 
curred May  29,  1883.  He  was  buried  in 
Evergreen  Cemetery.  He  left  two  daugh- 
ters and  one  son,  Rudolph  W.  Birdsell,  who 
for  a  long  time  has  been  connected  with  the 
Camden  Fii"e  Insurance  Association. 

William  G.  Thomas  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, January  16,  1826.  He  was  the  son 
of  Stephen  and  Sallie  Thomas.  He  com- 
menced the  study  of  medicine  in  Columbia, 

1  Somers'  "  Medical  History  of  Atlantic  County." 


35 


Lancaster  County,  Pa,,  under  Dr.  Filbert,  of 
that  place,  and  attended  medical  lectures  at 
the  Pennsylvania  Medical  College,  in  Phila- 
delphia, from  which  he  graduated  in  1854. 
Although  the  law  did  not  then  require  it,  he 
passed  an  examination  before  the  board  of 
censors  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Medical 
Society,  at  Trenton,  on  May  14,  1854,  and 
then  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Cam- 
den, He  became  a  member  of  the  Camden 
County  Medical  Society  in  1857.  He  had 
joined  the  city  society  upon  his  location  in 
Camden  and  had  taken  an  active  interest  in  its 
proceedings.  Dr.  Thomas  died  of  dysen- 
tery August  17,  1858.  He  had  a  hard  strug- 
gle during  his  short  professional  career  in 
Camden  and  after  his  death  the  city  society 
paid  his  funeral  expenses.  He  married, 
February  7, 1854,  Margaret  Cramsie,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, and  left  one  child. 

The  three  following  physicians  all  practiced 
in  Blackwood,  but  none  of  them  were  ever 
connected  with  either  the  Camden  County 
or  City  Medical  Societies.  Dr.  WillIam 
Holmes  located  there  between  1845  and 
1847.  Although  he  is  said  to  have  graduated 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  his  name 
is  not  in  the  list  of  graduates  of  that  institution. 
He  removed  to  Greenwich,  IST.  J.  Dr.  F. 
RiDGELEY  Graham  was  a  physician  in  the 
same  town  between  1850  and  1858.  He  was 
a  native  of  Chillicothe,  O.,  where  he  began 
the  study  of  medicine,  completing  his  education 
at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1850.  He  removed  to  Ches- 
ter, Pa.  The  third  one  was  Dr.  Alex- 
ander J.  McKelway,  son  of  Dr.  John 
McKelway,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  who  was  born 
in  Scotland  December  6,  1813.  He  graduat- 
ed at  the  Jeiferson  Medical  College  in  1834. 
Between  the  years  1858  and  1861  he  pursued 
his  profession  in  Blackwood.  On  September 
14th  of  the  latter  year  he  entered  the  volun- 
teer service  as  surgeon  of  the  Eighth  New 
Jersey  Regiment  and  continued  with  it  until 
April  7,  1864,  when  he. resigned.      He  died 


at  Williamstown,  Gloucester  County,  X.  J., 
November  8,  1885. 

Within  the  same  decade  Dr.  Jesse  S.  Zane 
Sellers,  son  of  Jesse  and  Rebecca  Sellers,  of 
Philadelphia,  opened  an  office  in  Camden. 
He  had  received  his  medical  education  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  from  which 
institution  he  graduated  in  1852.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Camden  City  Medical 
Society  in  September,  1854,  and  faithfully 
served  through  the  cholera  epidemic  of  that 
autumn.  Soon  afterward  he  removed  to 
Minnesota  and  engaged  in  mining.  He  lived 
only  a  few  years  after  his  removal  to  the 
West. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  Jennings  was 
twenty-eight  years  a  member  of  the  Camden 
County  Medical  Society  and  was  its  president 
in  1861.  He  died  of  phthisis  at  Haddon- 
field,  April  17,  1885.  The  doctor  was  the 
son  of  Stacy  and  Sarah  Jennings,  and  was 
born  at  Manahawkin,  N.  J.,  April  22, 1831. 
He  was  educated  at  the  Woodstock  Academy, 
Connecticut,  and  then  entered  the  office  of 
Dr.  Budd,  of  Medford,  N.  J,,  to  pursue  the 
study  of  medicine,  and  graduated  at  the  Jef- 
ferson Medical  College,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
1856.  He  immediately  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Haddonfield,  where 
he  soon  gained  the  confidence  of  the  com- 
munity by  his  professional  attainments  and 
his  excellent  social  qualities.  He  was  pos- 
sessed of  a  singularly  genial  nature,  which 
overflowed  in  kindness  to  all  and  gained  for 
him  the  universal  good  will  of  the  communi- 
ty in  which  he  lived  and  practiced  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  and  attained  for  him  one  of  the 
largest  practices  ever  secured  by  a  physician 
in  West  Jersey. 

He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Joshua  P. 
and  Amelia  Browning,  of  Haddonfield,  who 
survives  him  with  a  family  of  seven  children. 
He  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  Church. 

Henry  Ackley  virtually  belonged  to 
Camden,  although  born  in  Philadelphia,  Jan- 


36 


uaiy  29,  1837.  His  grandfather,  Thomas 
Ackley,  as  early  as  1800,  kept  the  old  store 
at  the  foot  of  Federal  Street,  which  was 
demolished  a  few  years  ago.  His  mother,  nee 
Barclay,  the  widow  of  Lieutenant-Comman- 
der McCauley,  United  States  Navy,  married 
Thomas  Ackley,  cashier  of  the  State  Bank 
at  Camden.  Dr.  Ackley  received  a  liberal 
education,  and  studied  medicine  with  Pro- 
fessors E.  Wallace  and  William  Keating,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  graduated  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  1858.  He  began  prac- 
tice in  Camden  and  joined  the  county  and 
city  societies,  and  was  secretary  of  the  former 
in  1859  and  1860.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  Civil  War  he  entered  the  United  States 
Navy,  as  surgeon,  on  July  20,  1861,  and 
was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Philadelphia 
Navy- Yard.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year 
he  was  ordered  to  the  United  States  ship 
"Wissahickon,"  of  the  East  Gulf  Blockad- 
ing Squadron,  and  served  under  Admiral 
Porter  in  the  capture  of  New  Orleans  and 
in  the  campaign  against  Vicksburg.  In 
1863  he  was  transferred  to  the  flag-ship 
"  San  Jacinto,"  and  was  acting  surgeon-in- 
chief  of  the  squadron.  While  on  this  vessel 
he  was  attacked  with  yellow  fever,  which  so 
impaired  his  naturally  feeble  constitution 
that  he  was  ordered  to  the  United  States 
receiving  ship  "  Vermont,"  at  New  York, 
in  1864.  He  died  in  Camden,  of  phthisis, 
December  1,  1865.  The  year  previous  he 
married  Sallie,  daughter  of  Hon.  Richard 
Wilkins,  of  Camden.  He  left  one  son,  who 
died  in  infancy. 

William  S.  Bishop,  surgeon  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  an  honorary  member  of 
the  Camden  County  Medical  Society,  died  De- 
cember 28,  1868.  Dr.  Bishop  was  connected 
with  the  navy  from  an  early  period  of  his 
professional  life.  He  had  seen  service  in 
most  parts  of  the  globe.  Several  years  ago, 
while  on  duty  with  the  squadron  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  he  suffered  from  a  severe  at- 
tack of  coast  fever,  from  the  effects  of  which 


he  never  entirely  recovered.  He  was  pro 
nounced  by  a  medical  commission  unfit  for 
further  sea  service,  but  was  employed  on 
shore  duty  at  the  various  naval  stations.  At 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  Dr.  Bishop 
was  on  duty  at  the  navy -yard  at  Pensacola, 
Fla.,  where,  in  common  with  the  other  naval 
officers,  he  was  obliged  to  give  his  parole  not 
to  engage  in  service  against  the  Confederacy 
before  he  was  permitted  to  return  North. 
When  not  employed  in  service,  he  resided  in 
Camden  for  a  number  of  years  previous  to 
his  death.  Shortly  after  his  return  to  the 
latter  place  he  was  ordered  to  the  navy-yard 
at  Mare  Island,  in  California,  where  he  re- 
mained during  the  whole  period  of  the  war. 
He  came  home  much  impaired  in  health,  but 
was  employed  again  on  naval  medical  com- 
missions of  great  responsibility ;  he  was 
finally  ordered  to  the  United  States  Naval 
Asylum,  at  Philadelphia,  as  chief  surgeon,  at 
which  post  he  died  on  December  28, 1868,  of 
a  complication  of  diseases,  ending  in  general 
dropsy.^  Dr.  Bishop  was  a  member  of  the 
Camden  City  Society  as  well  as  the  County 
Society. 

Thomas  J.  Smith  became  a  member  of 
the  Camden  County  Medical  Society  on  June 
18,  1867.  He  was  born  in  Salem,  N.  J., 
April  21,  1841,  and  is  the  son  of  Peter  and 
Elizabeth  Smith.  He  was  educated  at 
Williams  College,  Massachusetts,  graduating 
in  1862.  He  attended  medical  lectures  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  received  his 
degree  of  M.D.  in  March,  1866.  He  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Camden.  He 
joined  the  Camden  City  Medical  Society  in 
March,  1867,  and  became  its  secretary  the 
same  year,  continuing  in  office  until  his  re- 
moval to  Bridgeton,  early  in  the  year  1868. 
Dr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  New  Jersey 
State  Medical  Society  and  is  chairman  of  its 
standing  committee.  He  married,  March  28, 
1871,  Mary  L.,  daughter  of  Rev.  Elisha  V. 

1  Transactions  of  New  Jersey  State  Medical  Society, 
1869. 


37 


and  Matilda  B.  Glover,  of  Haddonfield.  Dr. 
Smith  is  a  prominent  practitioner  in  Bridge- 
ton. 

Joseph  W.  McCullough  fell  a  victim 
to  the  severest  epidemic  of  typhus  fever  that 
ever  attacked  the  almshouse  in  Blackwood, 
Camden  County,  literally  dying  at  his  post 
of  duty,  of  that  disease,  March  15,  1881, 
after  a  service  of  nine  years  as  attending 
physician  at  that  institution.  He  was  the 
son  of  Andrew  and  Eunice  McCullough,  and 
was  born  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  August  12, 
1837.  He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Chand- 
ler, of  that  city,  and  graduated  at  the  Jeffer- 
son Medical  College  in  1860.  When  the 
Civil  War  broke  out,  in  1861,  he  was  one  of 
the  first  to  offer  his  services  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  was  appointed  surgeon  of  the  First 
Delaware  Regiment.  After  the  close  of  the 
war  he  joined  the  regular  army,  and  was 
sent  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  to  Alabama. 
In  consequence  of  impaired  health  he  resign- 
ed, and  in  1866  located  as  a  practitioner  of 
medicine  at  Blackwood.  In  1880  he  and  Dr. 
Brannin,  his  co-laborer,  were  appointed  phy- 
sicians to  the  County  Insane  Asylum.  Dr. 
McCullough  joined  the  Camden  County 
Medical  Society  in  1871.  He  married, 
March  9,  1876,  Sarah  E.,  only  daughter  of 
Richard  C.  Stevenson,  of  Blackwood.  His 
widow  and  two  children  survive  him. 

Charles  F.  Clarke  practiced  medicine 
for  over  forty  years  in  Gloucester  County. 
He  retired  in  1868  and  moved  to  Camden, 
becoming  an  honorary  member  of  the  City 
Societv  in  1869  and  continuing:  his  connec- 
tion  with  it  until  his  death,  in  1875.  He  was 
born  near  Paulsboro',  Gloucester  County, 
N.  J.,  August  12,  1800.  He  was  educated 
at  Woodbury  and  at  Burlington,  and  then 
entered  the  counting-room  of  Mr.  Hollings- 
head,  in  Philadelphia.  In  the  year  1820, 
being  in  poor  health,  he  went  as  supercargo 
to  the  West  Indies  :  returning,  he  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  and  graduated  at  the 
University   of  Pennsylvania   in    1823.     In 


connection  with  his  cousin,  Dr.  John  Y. 
Clarke,  of  Philadelphia,  he  opened  a  drug 
store  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  and  Race  Streets, 
in  that  city.  This  he  soon  abandoned,  and 
then  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Clarksboro',  Gloucester  County,  N.  J.,  thence 
he  went  to  Paulsboro',  and  in  1835  to  Wood- 
bury, in  the  same  county,  where  he  lived  for 
thirty-two  years  and  attended  to  the  largest 
practice  in  that  section  of  the  county.  Dr. 
Clarke  accumulated  a  considerable  fortune. 
One  of  his  daughters,  Eva  C,  married  Dr. 
Randall  W.  Morgan,  His  son,  Dr.  Henry 
C.  Clarke,  succeeded  to  his  father's  practice 
and  is  one  of  the  leading  physicians  in 
Gloucester  County. 

Randal  W.  Morgan  was  born  near 
Black woodtown,  Camden  County,  June  5, 
1848,  and  was  a  son  of  Randal  E.  and  Mary 
(Willard)  Morgan.  He  attended  the  West 
Jersey  Academy,  at  Bridgeton,  and  later  the 
University  of  Lewisburgh,  Pa.  In  1864  he 
was  appointed  midshipman  at  the  Naval 
Academy  at  Annapolis,  which  position  he 
was  obliged  to  resign  because  of  an  attack  of 
typhoid  fever,  from  which  he  never  fully  re- 
covered. Shortly  afterward  he  commenced 
his  medical  studies  under  Dr.  Brannin,  of 
Blackwood  town,  continuing  them  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  graduating 
from  that  institution  in  1870.  Two  years 
later  he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Phil- 
osophy. In  1877  he  was  elected  county 
physician,  an  office  he  held  for  five  years. 
During  the  small-pox  epidemic,  in  1872,  he 
had  charge  of  the  small-pox  hospital,  and 
labored  unselfishly  among  the  victims  of  that 
disease.  In  1881,  much  broken  in  health, 
he  sailed  for  Europe,  and  was  much  benefited 
by  his  sojourn  there  ;  but  upon  returning  to 
practice  soon  succumbed  again  to  ill  health, 
and  in  August,  1883,  was  obliged  to  re- 
linquish the  duties  of  his  profession.  He 
sailed  again  for  Europe  in  1884,  intending, 
while  there,  to  visit  some  of  the  hospitals  in 
the  cholera-infested  portions  of  France  and 


38 


Italy,  but,  owing  to  aggravation  of  his  mala- 
dies, abandoned  the  project,  and  sailing  for 
home,  died  when  three  days  out  from  Liver- 
pool, October  20,  1884. 

Dr.  Morgan  was  a  very  active  man,  dili- 
gent in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
studious  and  quite  successful.  Speaking  of  his 
skillful  management  of  the  small-pox  hos- 
pital, heretofore  alluded  to,  Dr.  R.  M. 
Cooper,  in  his  report  to  the  Xew  Jersey  State 
Medical  Society,  said  :  "  We  have  obtained 
(from  Dr.  Morgan)  some  valuable  statistics 
in  regard  to  the  disease  and  its  mode  of 
treatment ;  and  it  is  but  just  to  him  to  State 
tiiat  the  ratio  of  mortality  of  the  cases  under 
his  care  compare  very  favorably  with  other 
small-pox  hospitals." 

He  carried  on  for  several  years  a  drug- 
store, and  was  a  member  of  both  the  Camden 
County  and  Camden  City  Medical  Societies. 

He  was  married  January  15, 1876,  to  Eva, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Charles  F.  Clarke,  late  of 
Camden,  who  survives  him. 

James  A.  Aemstroxg  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, June  12,  1835,  and  was  the  son  of 
James  and  Mary  Armstrong.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools,  and  graduated 
from  the  Philadelphia  High  School.  He 
eno;aged  in  the  drug  business  and  obtained  a 
diploma  from  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy  in  1855,  and  then  purchased  a 
drug  store  at  the  corner  of  Fourth  and 
Thompson  Streets,  in  his  native  city.  Subse- 
quently he  studied  medicine,  graduating  from 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1861.  In 
September  of  the  latter  year  Dr.  Armstrong 
was  appointed  assistant  surgeon  in  a  Penn- 
sylvania regiment,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  Virginia.  After 
three  years  of  military  duty  in  the  field  he 
returned  home,  and  was  attached  to  the 
Satterlee  Hospital  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  then  removed  to  Camden,  and  purchased 
a  drug  store  on  Federal  Street,  above  Third, 
which  he  afterwards  moved  to  Market,  above 
the  same  street.     In  a  few  years    he  relin- 


quished the  drug  business,  began  the  practice 
of  medicine  and  joined  the  Camden  County 
Medical  Society  in  1876.  He  was  surgical 
examiner  for  pensions  in  Camden  since  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  when  the  United  States 
Board  of  Pensions  was  established  in  that 
city,  in  1884,  he  was  appointed  one  of  its 
three  members.  In  1871  he  was  coroner  of 
Camden  City.  Dr.  Armstrong  was  an  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  died  of 
apoplexy  on  October  30,  1885,  leaving  a 
widow  and  three  daughters. 

J.  Xewtox  Achuff  was  a  native  of 
Germantown,  Pa.  He  commenced  his  medi- 
cal education  with  Dr.  Lemuel  J.  Deal,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  completed  it  at  the  Jeffer- 
son Medical  College,  graduating  in  1867. 
He  at  once  commenced  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  South  Camden,  and  in  the  same 
year  (1867)  joined  both  the  Camden  City  and 
County  Societies.  He  was  at  once  appointed 
a  visiting  physician  of  the  Camden  City  Dis- 
pensary. In  the  year  1869  he  left  Camden 
and  entered  the  service  of  the  government  as 
a  contract  surgeon,  and  was  assigned  to  duty 
in  Alaska,  and  subsequently  in  California,  in 
which  State  he  died  about  1872. 

James  H.  Wroth  is  the  son  of  the  late 
James  W.  Wroth,  of  Camden,  whose  widow 
and  her  family  have  removed  from  the  city. 
Dr.  Wroth  obtained  his  medical  education  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he 
graduated  in  1878.  He  commenced  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Camden,  and  in 
1879  attached  himself  to  both  the  Camden 
City  and  County  Societies.  While  an  interne 
of  the  Camden  City  Dispensary  the  small- 
pox epidemic  of  1880  occurred  in  that  city, 
during  which  Dr.  Wroth  distinguished  liim- 
self  by  his  attendance  upon  the  sick  (poor) 
with  that  disease.  He  is  now  a  resident  of 
Xew  Mexico. 

Isaac  B.  Mulford  belonged  to  an  old 
and  influential  family  in  South  Jersey.  He 
was  born  in  Millville,  X.  J.,  in  1843.  He 
was  educated  at  the  West  Jersey  Academy, 


39 


at  Bridgeton,  at  Monticello  Seminary,  New 
York,  and  at  Princeton  College,  from  which 
he  graduated  with  honor  in  the  class  of  1865. 
He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  William  Hunt, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  attended  lectures  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  His  studies 
being  interrupted  by  severe  illness,  he  could 
not  receive  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine 
until  1871.  He  began  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine ill  Camden,  and  became  a  member  of 
both  the  Camden  County  and  Camden  City 
Medical  Societies,  and  was  elected  treasurer  of 
the  former  in  1874,  and  president  in  1881. 
For  several  years  prior  to  his  death  he  was 
surgeon  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  National 
Guards  of  New  Jersey.  He  was  also  phy- 
sician of  the  West  Jersey  Orphanage,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  Jersey  Sanitary  Association 
and  the  Camden  Microscopical  Society.^ 
Dr.  IMulford  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  F.  Garri- 
.sou,  honorary  member  of  the  Camden  County 
Society,  were  the  only  resident  physicians  in 
the  coimty  who  were  ever  graduates  of  the 
College  of  New  Jersey.  Dr.  Mulford  died 
in  Camden,  November  21,  1882.  He  left  a 
fine  library  of  medical  works  to  the  Camden 
City  Dispensary. 

1  Transactions  New   Jersey    State  Medical   Society, 
1883. 


William  G.  Taylor,  a  former  mem- 
ber of  the  Camden  City  Medical  Society, 
was  the  son  of  Dr.  R.  G.  and  Eleonora  Tay- 
lor, of  Camden.  He  was  born  in  Philadel- 
phia, July  20,  1851,  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  in  Camden.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  entered  the  drug-store  of  Jo- 
seph Riley  and  attended  two  courses  of  lec- 
tures at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy. He  then  commenced  the  study  of 
medicine  and  graduated  at  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  1873.  For  a  short  time 
he  was  one  of  the  visiting  physicians  for  the 
Dispensary,  but  he  had  been  preparing  for 
the  work  of  a  missionary  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions. On  June  11,  1873,  he  sailed  from 
New  York  for  Africa.  His  station  was  Ga- 
boon, on  the  west  coast,  and  his  duty  was  to 
visit  monthly,  or  oftener  if  called  upon,  the 
stations  between  it  and  Benita,  a  point  one 
hundred  miles  north.  The  mode  of  travel- 
ling was  by  sea  in  an  open  boat,  five  and 
one-half  feet  wide  by  twenty-six  feet  long. 
This  exposed  life  and  repeated  attacks  of  Af- 
rican fever  broke  down  his  health,  and  after 
two  years'  labor  there  he  returned  home,  and 
died  April  8,  1877.  He  was  buried  in  Ever- 
green Cemetery. 


